Through the Clinicians Who Inspire series, we continue to share motivation, creativity, and inspiration from clinicians in the field. This month, we spoke with Yvette Aquino-Luna, Champion Level II therapist, OTA/DOR at Murrieta Health and Rehab. Yvette shared that there have been a lot of changes for her team over the past few years. Through the many changes, she has seen the team grow, becoming like a cohesive family. While continuing to provide excellent patient care, they have learned more about each other, and have even volunteered to learn aspects of the DOR role. She said, “I honestly couldn’t do this job without the team we have here!”
Last year, they won several awards, receiving Visa gift cards as prizes. Yvette used them to purchase an escape room, team building activity. She said the team enjoyed the activity so much that they are planning to do something else in the spring, perhaps an obstacle ropes course. She noted, learning to communicate “makes a big difference when time gets tough.”
Yvette expressed that “teams need to feel appreciated.” She has accomplished this by obtaining lunch donations from local restaurants during spirit weeks. Yvette says, “they take care of the patients, so I try to take care of them.” Her advice for any team is to get to know your co-workers as we often “spend more time here at work than we do with our own families.” Thank you, Yvette and team at Murrieta Health and Rehab, for remaining positive and adapting to help each other flourish.