We’d like to turn the spotlight on Kimberly Luster, COTA! Kim works on the scheduling tool and is an expert on our teletherapy platform. An interest in technical quality assurance brought her into the tech industry. Unsurprisingly, this adventurous soul lives right around the corner from NASA. Sometimes you’ll hear exciting “space” activity in the background of our video calls!
Where are you from and where do you live now?
I grew up in Torrance, California; I currently live in Houston, Texas.
Tell us a little about what you did before joining the Ambiki team!
I have been a COTA for 25 years. I’ve worked in management as a DOR and worked in rehab hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, schools, and outpatients with patients of all ages. I traveled for 11 years as a COTA/DOR throughout California and Texas in many different SNFs and two years working in schools in California. I also worked with an area manager to start new skilled nursing facilities and therapy departments in California. Before being a COTA/DOR, I worked as a CNA (certified nurse assistant). Prior to that, I owned an in-home daycare.
What led you to become a therapist?
When I was running an in-home daycare, I had several OTs bringing me their kids and clients’ kids and they taught me how to perform self-feeding, ROM, and home exercises with the kids. I loved seeing how much improvement it made in each child’s life. I was raising 2 kids and didn’t have the funds to go to college, but I knew I wanted to help people. I got a scholarship to a CNA program, which got me into the medical field. I was then able to graduate from Mt St Mary’s College of Los Angeles, CA and passed the national testing to become a COTA.
Where did you go to school and what did you study?
I graduated from Mt. St. Mary’s College of Los Angeles, CA. I also attended Marymount College in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA and Brook’s Institute of Photography in Ventura, CA.
I studied occupational therapy and graduated with an AS degree in OTA. I have also taken courses in graphic design and manual QA software testing.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I enjoy hanging out with my pampered fur baby, kayaking, painting, making any kind of art, and relaxing at the beach.
How long have you been a part of Ambiki? What do you do?
I have been a part of Ambiki, as a Clinical Support Analyst, since February 2022. Currently, I focus on Ambiki’s Teletherapy and projects for our upcoming EMR platform (like the scheduling tool).
How do you hope to improve the field with Ambiki?
I’m excited to be part of a team creating the best tools for therapists and making lives easier for all therapists. I hope that Ambiki allows therapists more time to focus on their patients and provide the best quality treatments out there.
What do you love most about Ambiki?
I absolutely love being part of this creative, caring, ambitious Ambiki team! I love that Ambiki Teletherapy offers a great HIPAA-compliant platform full of resources, activity lists, visual schedules, a whiteboard, and more to provide a fabulous teletherapy treatment session.
What is something you learned about technology as it relates to therapy that you did not know before?
Oh my goodness, in six months, I have learned a tremendous amount of information. As therapists, we know problem-solving and task analysis (breaking larger pieces of an activity into smaller pieces) to reach our patients’ goals. Technology is very similar. You have a vision, goal, and you break large tasks into a whole bunch of small pieces that will fit together to make the vision come true. I have always been passionate about figuring out how things work and all the details necessary to make something work. It is an absolute dream to work in technology while using my skills as a therapist to improve other people’s lives.
Read Kimberly’s profile to learn more about her and visit the Teletherapy User Guide to get introduced to some of the items she has worked on.
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