COTA Uses Lymphedema Skills to Enhance Quality of Life for Clients

KARIN BOTTI, COTA/L, CLT-LANA

Providing Inclusive Care

Karin Botti, a COTA from Pennsylvania, established and implemented one of her area’s only home care Lymphedema programs. Many clients cannot visit an outpatient clinic due to the extent of their condition, so Karin’s program brings therapy to them. Clients receive essential lymphedema interventions within their homes, which enhance their quality of life.

Karin and her team of therapists create a comprehensive plan of care for each client. The client is educated on all aspects of the plan, including skin health and hygiene, exercise, healthy eating, compression therapy, and manual lymphatic drainage. Through this approach, Karin’s clients return to a life where they are more independent and less susceptible to long-term lymphedema issues.

Because of Karin’s work, many people have increased their limb health and have reignited previous roles and routines. Karin is credited with being a client advocate and giving her clients hope to “see the light at the end of the tunnel” despite the severity of their condition.

Certification Matters

Along with her certification as a COTA, Karin is a certified lymphedema therapist (CLT). She earned her CLT certification from the Klose Norton School of Lymphatic Therapy in 2003 and her LANA board certification from the Lymphology Association of North America (LANA) in 2005. She has received training in head and neck lymphedema treatment and a certification in chemotoxicity and cancer exercise therapy from the P.O.R.I. Institute. Karin is also certified to treat complex wounds related to lymphedema and often coordinates care with the home care nursing staff.

A Mentor to Her Peers

Karin’s impact extends to her colleagues as well. She mentors the other therapists in the home care lymphedema program, providing training and support as they provide OT services within the clients’ homes. She exemplifies what practitioners in the occupational therapy field are here to do. She is an advocate and mentor to many, and she lives and breathes the NBCOT mission every day.