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Dodging a motionable blur…Naval Hospital Bremerton Physical Therapy Department staff faced off against each other in a fast-moving game of dodge ball to test hand-to-eye coordination, just one contest in a series held in conjunction with April designated as Occupational Therapy Month to demonstrate how occupational therapy can help those in need to recuperate, recover, and rehabilitate from an injury. Ms. Teri Nyblom, NHB certified occupational therapist assistant tasked her coworkers - including Rockwell “Ed” Gerlach readying his delivery here – to consider the following during each activity; “What is the normal range of motion and what type of motions – flexion, extension, abduction, adduction - do those muscles make?” “How far into rehabilitation would you want a patient to perform the activity safely?” Although occupational therapy and physical therapy are closely aligned - for Fiscal Year 2024, they combined to treat over 14,300 patients - there is a difference. According to Nyblom, occupational therapy promotes health by enabling individuals to achieve independence and improve their ability to perform meaningful and purposeful daily activities across their lifespan. “We deal with a lot of repetitive motion injuries and combine teaching and training to help the healing,” Nyblom said. “Healing can be hard.” Physical therapy primarily focuses on healing a body’s damage and helping a patient’s physical mobility, movement, and ability to function (Official Navy photo by Douglas H Stutz, NHB/NMRTC Bremerton public affairs officer).