Professor brings her experience as a veteran — and as a beekeeper — to OT program

When Assistant Professor Kimberly Ferland, EdD, OTR, CHT, relocated to San Antonio to join the Department of Occupational Therapy in the School of Health Professions, she brought deep clinical and leadership development experience from a 30-year military career — and five beehives. 

She also carried her belief in the power of relationships, a theme that runs through her story from the very beginning: how she discovered occupational therapy, served three decades in the U.S. Navy, achieved her dream faculty job and uses beekeeping to help veterans.

“Relationships are everything,” Ferland said. “That’s something I hope to bring to the program: learning how to be professional, how to be a good colleague and how to be a great therapist.”

Charting a course for OT

Ferland discovered occupational therapy while seeking out the kinds of hands-on splint-making she encountered during her brother’s occupational therapy treatment as a child. He received a first-of-its-kind leg brace that enabled him to participate in activities he enjoyed. “I saw the brace and thought, ‘That’s what I want to do,’” she said. “Purely by accident did I even discover the field of OT. I’ve loved it ever since.”

Ferland joined the U.S. Navy to pay for her bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy. “I was in the Reserve when I was in OT school,” she said.

At first, she didn’t think that she would be able to practice her chosen profession in the Navy, which had discontinued occupational therapy in its medical service. In a bit of fortunate timing, Ferland’s college graduation coincided with the Navy’s decision to once again employ occupational therapists. She went on active duty and practiced occupational therapy first in Department of Defense schools in Japan and then at duty stations across the U.S. She earned her certification in hand therapy while in graduate school, which also coincided with 9/11. During that time, Ferland worked with veterans with orthopaedic polytrauma and traumatic brain injury.

“As I tell my students, you can’t sustain a massive blast injury and just be focusing on the physical ailments. There is so much mental health care that goes along with that,” Ferland said of the clinical background she gained during that period in her career.

She moved her career in a different direction, taking leadership roles at the U.S. Naval Personnel Command, the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and the NATO Military Medicine Center of Excellence in Budapest, Hungary.

“They were looking for educators to review all the military medical courses for NATO and figure out which countries provided the gold standard and give them a NATO certification,” she said. “We were looking for the best of the best. A good example of that would be the Tactical Combat Casualty Care course, created by the United States to treat wounds in battle.” 

In 2017, Ferland was recognized as NATO Center of Excellence Officer of the Year. She spent her last two years of active duty in the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, where she developed a COVID-19 response agenda.

Finding her way to UT San Antonio

Ferland had long been interested in joining the OT faculty at the university. In fact, her boss at her first duty station in Japan was Greg Ernst, a physical therapist who would go on to become a faculty member and eventually the chair of the School of Health Professions’ Department of Physical Therapy, a post he held until his retirement in 2023. Ernst encouraged Ferland to seek out leadership opportunities in her military career, and he urged her to come work for the School of Health Professions on more than one occasion.

After her retirement from the military in 2021, Ferland earned her doctorate in education. She joined the faculty in July.

“It’s been a dream of mine to come over to work at UT Health,” she said. 

Now, Ferland is sharing with her students a lesson she received first from her parents and went on to witness in action throughout her career — that relationships are the key to success. 

“If you want to get things done but don’t know how to get along with people that you may or may not agree with, relationships can cut through a lot of that, just because you can talk to people,” she said.

Ferland is an asset to the department, said Professor Bridgett Piernik-Yoder, PhD, OTR, FAOTA, associate dean for academic affairs for the School of Health Professions and chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy.

“We are thrilled Dr. Ferland selected to join our faculty following her distinguished naval career. She brings a wealth of professional and leadership experience along with exceptional clinical expertise as a certified hand therapist,” Piernik-Yoder said. “I know our students will be the fortunate recipients of her passionate teaching and commitment to our profession.”

When a side quest takes on a buzz of its own

Ferland’s students also will gain the opportunity to observe the impact of the practice of beekeeping as an occupational therapy activity. Ferland got into beekeeping by chance after noticing the low number of pollinators in her underperforming home garden in Virginia. 

She did some research, and before long, she was a member of a local beekeeper’s association. She now serves as a volunteer mentor for Hives for Heroes, a national nonprofit that aims to impact the lives of veterans and first responders through beekeeping. She currently mentors two veterans who visit her hives at her family’s Hill Country property.

Ferland sees a lot of potential for research to develop OT applications for beekeeping, such as creating ergonomic methods for people with missing limbs or severe burns to safely lift heavy hives. Research has shown that beekeeping has tremendous benefits for those with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, she said.

“For a veteran, beekeeping is like going into battle. You have to put on a uniform of protective gear to take care of the hive,” she said. “For OT, that’s purposeful activity, and every day there’s a change: Eggs are being laid. Pollen is being gathered. Are there invasive mites? Is there disease? Are they healthy? And just the smell is so calming.”

Ferland also hopes to develop capstone and other research and community engagement opportunities related to beekeeping.

“I’ve already started talking to my students about the bees and hope to make them think about beekeeping as therapy in OT,” she said.