Occupational Therapy students at Robert Gordon University (RGU) will benefit from a generous £2,500 bursary, presented in memory of a Multiple Sclerosis patient who lived in Aberdeen.
Mr Kenneth Young has gifted an annual award of £500 for the next five years in memory of his late wife Judith Young who passed away last year.
The money will be made available to occupational therapy students at RGU in recognition of the value the couple placed on occupational therapy for Mrs Young’s care while she was unwell.
Mr Young paid a visit to RGU’s School of Health Sciences recently to meet some of the students who will benefit from the first year of the bursary.
The initial £500 award has already been put to good use and a student committee are developing a conference at RGU for occupational therapy students from across Scotland.
Mr Young said: "I was delighted to hear that my wife’s memorial bursary will help to support an occupational therapy conference at RGU later this year.
“It was a pleasure to meet some of the students who will benefit and I look forward to working with them on the project."
Dawn Mitchell, subject lead in occupational therapy at RGU, said: “We are honoured to receive the Bursary from Mr Young in memory of his wife Judith.
“The bursary will be used in a number of ways to support occupational therapy students to develop skills and knowledge in relation to Multiple Sclerosis and we cannot thank him enough for his kind contribution.”
Occupational therapy students Jamie McMurray, Jayne Leckie, Chloe Sherlock, Rosie Wade and Hannah Rhattigan Walsh, make up this year’s student committee which is working to organise the conference.
The conference, ‘The Evolution of Occupational Therapy – Unlocking Our Potential’, will take place on Saturday, October 24 at the University’s Faculty of Health and Social Care.
The event will focus on how past practice has developed into and impacted on current occupational therapy practice and how this may shape the future of the profession.
Guest speakers who are experts within the occupational therapy field, Jennifer Creek and Dr Irene Paterson, will also attend the conference.
Jamie McMurray is working with his student colleagues to organise the conference and is looking forward to welcoming students from around the country.
He said: “We cannot express how grateful we are to Mr Young for choosing us to receive the bursary. His extremely generous contribution will allow us to organise an educational, engaging and enjoyable conference that will showcase the diverse role of the occupational therapist and how this has changed over the last century.
“We are very excited to work alongside Mr Young in organising the conference and hope that he will be involved as much as he feels comfortable with.”