Dr. Nirvi Sharma: Transforming lives with the power of Occupational Therapy…
Here is a special narrative of a dedicated leader and social activist who is catalyzing awareness for Occupational Therapy to combat the complexities of disabilities such as autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, Down syndrome, and more. It is none other than Dr. Nirvi Sharma who is a globally acclaimed pediatric Occupational Therapist.
Business Connect highly applauds her thought contribution to this domain and would like to draw global attention to her work through this story. What makes her journey inspiring? Well, in this path, Dr. Nirvi witnessed not only the struggles of these patients but also the challenges their families face in seeking help and support.
India, awareness about occupational therapy is surprisingly superficial. Several parents of such children have no guidance on what to do to make the child’s life better. Occupational therapy can immensely change the course of the lives of children with the disabilities mentioned above.
In line with this, Dr. Nirvi has vowed to equip helpless parents with the aptitudes to manage and utilize available resources to support the affected children to heal at a faster pace. This story sheds light on her journey as well as her strategies to counter this pressing issue with a well-curated roadmap to empower parents globally with the competence of occupational therapy.
The backstory of the founder
Dr. Nirvi’s inspiring journey to become a maven in Occupational Therapy began in 2004. After she pursued and completed her Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (BOT) in 2008, she started practicing at Medicare Hospital in Indore, MP. While her tenure at the institution was challenging, she aptly treated children with special needs, including those with Autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, developmental disorders, and more.
This experience gave her a better understanding of how to get the pain points and offer the best possible treatment to those in need. Her stint at Medicare Hospital lasted till 2011 before relocating to Jaipur, Rajasthan, after getting married.
While residing in Jaipur, Dr. Nirvi was associated with UMANG which is an NGO, until 2012. Her core focus remained on treating and helping the specially-abled children in the best possible manner. She initiated her entrepreneurial journey in 2011 when she established her clinic, Radical Rehabilitation & Research Center. Her exclusive venture was all about delivering presentations at various hospitals and conferences to raise awareness.
Gradually, she got indulged in conducting workshops at Military Hospitals in Jodhpur and Chandigarh. Gaining these extensive experiences motivated her to pursue a master’s degree in Occupational Therapy(MOT) in pediatrics. What is worth talking about is her remarkable attainment of the distinction as a University topper with high marks in her research thesis and other subjects.
After the culmination of her higher education, Dr. Nirvi joined Jaipur Occupational Therapy College as an Assistant Professor. Driven by her dedication and hard work, she was promoted to Professor based on extraordinary capabilities. With time, she embraced the influential responsibilities that came with her enrollment in the field of leadership.
Later on, she also assumed the roles of Program Director (Advanced Specialty Education), Dean (Undergraduate & Professional Studies in Occupational Therapy), and Assistant Dean (Postgraduate and Professional Studies in Occupational Therapy).
Escalating the ladder of success, Dr. Nirvi relocated to the USA and served in various settings like schools, special schools, skilled nursing facilities, and outpatient clinics, as an Occupational Therapist Registered/Licensed (OTR/L) in 2018. After gaining immense experience, she laid the groundwork for the Sanjivan Sewa Foundation in Rajasthan, India. This is how her commitment to the field of Occupational Therapy and her devotion to serving society and helping those in need came into existence.
What inspired the inception of the venture?
We wanted to dig into the inspiration that motivated Dr. Nirvi to initiate this thought venture. In reply to this question, she responded, “Let me go back to my experience of my days of graduation (BOT). When I started BOT practical classes, I came to know about all these disabilities (Autism, ADHD, Learning Disability, Down Syndrome, etc) and witnessed not only the struggle of these patients but also that their families need help and support as well.
In India, there is little to no awareness about Occupational therapy. Parents of such patients don’t know where to go and what to do. They are not aware that how therapies can change the lives of such children and even teach parents how to handle and use resources.
At that time I decided that I need to work for these kids and their families. I wanted to provide therapy and other guidance to all Indian parents at a minimal affordable price for everyone. All I need is to spread awareness of how can occupational therapy help disabled kids to be independent in their lives.”
Being active in the industry for over 15 years as an occupational therapist, She has had the privilege of working in both India and the USA. In India, she has treated numerous patients and accumulated extensive experience through workshops across various cities. She stated that her work in different states provided her with a broad practical, results-oriented perspective.
In the USA, she got to know how crucial the early intervention and documentation-based models are and her tenure of working in both countries emphasized the necessity of continuing education and staying updated with the latest developments in occupational therapy.
Early intervention is crucial
Walking us through the process of addressing and healing some of the most challenging disabilities, she elucidated, “The most important thing I learned in the USA is the early diagnosis of the condition. It is the first thing to do when a pediatric case comes to me. Sensory, motor, cognitive, and perceptual aspects are to be evaluated first in occupational therapy.
A pediatrician will do all the interventions, lab testing, and other detailed examinations, and after this only, one starts with early treatment aka early intervention. Hence, the proper diagnosis is essential. Early intervention starts from 0-3 years. So if a pediatrician evaluates and finds a child with any type of developmental delay he/she will refer that child for early intervention.
Early intervention includes all of these as per case needs- occupational therapy, ABA, physical therapy, speech therapy, counselor, and social worker. As an Occupational therapist, I work with a child for at least one hour, 3-4 days a week for fine motor, gross motor, visual perception, cognitive & developmental patterns, sensory aspect, grasp, hand functions, ADL, etc.
After that, once the child reaches 3 years of age, the child will go to school and the school will provide all the services. OT in school includes adaptive devices like pencil grippers, modified papers, sensory integration, executive function and ergonomic table chairs for students including ADL (activities of daily living) activities.
I have used different websites that are specially designed for special kids, Wilson technique, HWT techniques for handwriting, and fine motor functions. I also have some patents such as, A wearable device for the automatic classification of tremor severity in Parkinson’s disease; A Biomedical implantable gastric electrical stimulator for the stomach; and A novel method of classification of an ultrasound image for gall bladder disease using multi-SVM classifier. I have also made a wrist curl exerciser for bilateral hand use and to strengthen the arm and hand muscles of pediatric and adult populations with disabilities.”
Feathers in the cap
In her phenomenal journey so far, Dr. Nirvi has crossed several milestones and bagged global acclaim. She is a well-deserving gold medalist in MOT where she earned distinctions in all subjects. Her in-depth research focused on pre-writing skills in children with diplegic cerebral palsy compared to normal children aged 4-6 years.
She is a member of the All India Occupational Therapist’s Association (AIOTA), the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), Council of Asian Science Editors (CASE) and Cochrane. She has chaired over 50 scientific conferences and presented more than 15 papers on national and international platforms.
So far, Dr. Nirvi has been a proud author of around 10 papers in some revered journals which includes Cureus Journal of Medical Sciences (a pubmed indexed journal). She recently received the International Award for Outstanding Academic Leader 2023 by the International Institute of Organized Research.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Nirvi conducted remote sessions for more than 100 children across 15 schools, earning appreciation from both school staff and parents for her exceptional work. She also participated in Guinness Book of World Record on behalf of Federation of Indian Association NY, NJ, CT, and made it successful.
A memo to be shared with the readers
“ I have learned in this journey of healing people with the power of Occupational Therapy is to Try your BEST, have Patience, and believe in GOD. It needs a lot of hard work and eagerness to learn new things.
It is important to have early diagnosis and early intervention for any medical condition. Continuing education and reading different research work will help us upgrade our knowledge and enhance our skills.”
