AOTA member spotlight: Karen Mestas-Harris, MOT, OTR/L, CEAS II

Karen Mestas-Harris, MOT, OTR/L, CEAS II, is Senior Manager of Risk Services/Ergonomics with Poms & Associates Insurance Brokers. Mestas-Harris spoke to Rebekah Highlander, an AOTA Level II fieldwork student in Practice Improvement, about her experience utilizing her occupational therapy skills in this role.

Rebekah: Describe your role as a Senior Manager of Risk Services/Ergonomics.

Karen: My organization provides holistic services to clients and the community to prevent and minimize injury. I work to facilitate a team of ergonomic specialists that provide services to clients from a wellness and prevention perspective. This mission aligns with my mission in occupational therapy: helping people live their best life.

Rebekah: How do you use your occupational therapy skills in this setting?

Karen: I use my occupational therapy skills in activity analysis, environmental factors, and person factors to perform ergonomic assessments. This could include a specific employee, a manufacturing plant, a department, or an entire office environment. Within those environments, I focus on safety, environmental controls, administrative controls, task set-up, scheduling, postures, and adaptability of tools and workstations. At the person level, I educate my clients on ergonomics, movement, posture, and safety to highlight their wellness in everyday life. Intervention also may include training staff on safe lifting, dynamic movement training, and ergonomics in everyday tasks.

Rebekah: How are you able to help improve outcomes?

Karen: I work to promote prevention, assess risk, and offer guidance in ergonomics to our clients. This influences financial outcomes for employers, improves physical and job satisfaction outcomes for employees, and bridges the gap between the two. For example, implementing an ergonomics program may lead to both a reduction in claims and an increase in employee wellness scores. I also look at data to tailor services to the needs of the client. For example, with a move to work from home during the pandemic, we saw an increase in neck and wrist injuries. I provided education and information to my clients about taking ergonomic breaks and home office setup.

Rebekah: What advice do you have for occupational therapy practitioners interested in ergonomics and risk management?

Karen: I would encourage individuals to research roles they are interested in and to shadow someone who works in ergonomics. Working in ergonomics in an insurance environment serves clients in a wide array of settings versus working in ergonomics in an industrial setting. As occupational therapy practitioners, we have a wide range of perspectives that are very valuable in this field.

For any comments or questions, or to share more occupational therapy success stories, please contact quality@aota.org.

Posted: June 1, 2021