October 24, 2025
Occupational therapist Anne Marie Bishop helps clients to be successful at the day-to-day activities they need or want to do, like helping Terry Root, a resident in Crowsnest Pass Health Centre’s long-term care unit, return to hobbies like gardening. Photo by Leah Hennel.
“I get to have a real working relationship with the clients I work with, because I see them from acute care to home,” says Bishop. “It is incredibly rewarding to help clients with what they need and want to do.” Here she tends to Root’s hand. Photo by Leah Hennel.
Story by Kelly Morris | Photos by Leah Hennel
CROWSNEST PASS — “I've never been bored in this profession,” says Anne Marie Bishop, an occupational therapist at the Crowsnest Pass Health Centre. “The flexibility — the ability to do many different things — is what attracted me to this profession and what has kept me here for 20 years.”
Occupational therapy focuses on helping people with everything they need or want to do in a day — self-care activities such as getting washed and dressed, productivity activities such as cooking and cleaning, or leisure activities such as hiking or gardening.
Working with clients of all ages, from newborns to geriatric, OTs work across the healthcare spectrum in acute and long-term care as well as outpatient and community settings, providing a variety of career opportunities.
Working at a rural site, where she often works across the full spectrum, Bishop enjoys the variety and constant challenge of finding unique solutions for each patient.
“The end result is always being able to participate in the activity that they need and want to do,” says Bishop. “There’s no prescription for what I do. A lot of it is problem solving and trying different things. It’s one of the things I love the most about my job.
“It's never the same because what people want to do is never the same. Each person, each environment, is never the same. Every person is unique and what motivates them is unique.”
Bishop credits the opportunity to build close working relationships with clients and coworkers as the true highlight of her job.
“What I love about working in a rural setting is the team. You get really close with your coworkers. You have a real work family, which helps you in good times and bad times, and helps make your work life so amazing.
“And I get to have a real working relationship with the clients I work with, because I see them from acute care to home. It is incredibly rewarding to help clients with what they need and want to do.”
The Crowsnest Pass scenery doesn’t hurt either.
“At least once a week I'll be driving somewhere and have these amazing views. I’ll look at the mountains and be in awe that I get to do what I do.”
October is National Occupational Therapy Month, a time to recognize a unique profession that helps individuals in the activities and life roles meaningful to them. Around 1,200 occupational therapists at Alberta Health Services and Recovery Alberta provide services across a continuum of care for all ages.
