Therapeutic Touch
Susan Heitman an Inspiration for Students

Health Occupations Instructor Susan Heitman is a bundle of energy known for her great big smile. A familiar face at the Downtown Milwaukee Campus of Milwaukee Area Technical College, she teaches a full schedule while also serving on several faculty committees and continuing to work one Saturday a month as an occupational therapist. What keeps her going is a burning passion for helping others learn.

“I draw on my students’ energy and enthusiasm and try to give something of that back,” she says. “And I think I’m most energetic when I practice what I preach; that is, when I use the same lessons for living that we teach to occupational therapy patients.” Heitman adds, quoting Sarah Bernhardt: “Energy creates energy; it is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.”

The push and pull of the learning process inspires her. As a teacher, part of her job is to move students out of their comfort zones. “For some people it’s a difficult journey. But afterwards they realize they are better for it, and they will share that with me. It’s very gratifying to see people grow personally like that.

“To help them get there, the teacher has to perform a balancing act. You have to find a way to be firm and set high expectations without killing the fire.”

Her deep religious faith helps sustain Heitman through the ups and downs in her work and her life. “I’m acutely aware of my many blessings,” she says in explaining her unfailingly positive outlook.

Heitman joined MATC in 1995, while she was working as an occupational therapist at the former Trinity Memorial Hospital in Cudahy (now St. Luke’s South Shore). Recently she learned about a part-time opening to teach therapeutic media (expressive arts, crafts and games). That happened to be Heitman’s first love, and she got the job.

She continued full time as a therapist while teaching part time at MATC. After three years, she was promoted to full-time instructor. To this day, however, she still works regularly at the hospital, filling in on Saturdays in the psychiatric unit. Keeping one foot in the workplace constantly reminds her of the challenges professionals face in the field. “That’s something I can share with students, and it adds credibility to what we teach in the classroom.”

A native of St. Francis, and a holder of a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Heitman did not train to be a teacher, but says teaching had long intrigued her. “About a hundred years ago” she wanted to be a home economics teacher. Through her church, she had taught religion classes.

Although she had never formally taught at a school, her job in many ways was all about teaching, she says. Occupational therapy helps physically and mentally challenged individuals achieve independence – “skills for the job of living” – in all facets of their lives. The therapist’s job includes designing customized treatment programs, performing home and job site evaluations, assessing performance levels, training patients in the use of adaptive equipment and providing support to caregivers.

“Therapists are teachers in that we want to show patients how to be as healthy as possible and how to change unproductive behaviors,” Heitman says. “So for me to be training occupational therapy assistants felt like second nature.”

Heitman branched out educationally in 2000 by earning her master’s degree in educational computing from Cardinal Stritch University, opening the way for her to take on computer-related teaching assignments. As part of the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program, she teaches gerontology, therapeutic media and medical terminology.

She has supported international education by hosting visiting students from Canada and Germany and a German teacher as well. She traveled to Germany in June as part of a teacher exchange, with hopes of developing opportunities for future MATC student exchanges. Also in her travel plans is to arrange virtual discussions between German educators and two groups of her students – occupational therapy assistants and early college high school pupils.

The latter are part of a groundbreaking initiative in which MATC is playing a leading role. Supported by a charitable consortium led by the Gates Foundation, the early college high school project is a partnership of MATC and two small urban high schools, Aurora Weier Early College Bilingual High School and Loyola Academy. They are part of a nationwide pilot project, administered by the National Council of La Raza, to put at-risk Hispanic students on a college track.

The curriculums at Aurora Weier and Loyola are being aligned with MATC so that high school students can begin earning future college credits, empowering many young people who are the first generation of their families to graduate from high school and go on to college.

Last spring, Heitman taught “Survey of Health Careers” to a class of 12 girls from Loyola Academy. Ranging from freshmen to seniors, they came to MATC for 15 five-hour sessions. “The group was wonderful; they had a lot of enthusiasm,” Heitman says. “They’ve gotten good exposure to a number of different programs, short and long. They are seeing that they can start with a short program that pays a working wage and then go on to do something better. Except for one who’s not sure, all of these students want a career in health care.”

Heitman’s Loyola students exemplify the diversity of MATC. “I think our diversity does motivate me,” she says. “Dealing with the needs of a diverse population, everyone here is engaged in a continuous process of personal growth. One of my OTA students made the observation that other colleges couldn’t buy the kind diversity we take for granted. This was part of why she was sold on MATC. She understands that in the clinic, out in the real world, you encounter people from all different ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic classes.”

At MATC, Heitman says, “we bring diversity to the table naturally, and I think that’s a real strength; we are a great microcosm of the whole community at large. And that is one of the things I love most about my job.”

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