Casey Savo, COTA/L

Hometown: Naugatuck, CT

Specialty – or favorite OT challenge:  
My specialty is Parkinson’s disease. My mother passed in 2011 from the disease and it became my passion. It was then I became LSVT certified when the program first launched and before it even came to CT.

When and how did you decide to become an OT, or were you born knowing?
I graduated high school and was not sure what I wanted to go to college for. I was very into kids and ADHD and sensory programs. A friend of my mother’s was a speech therapist and told me I should be a COTA. So I went ahead and became one. However while in school I realized I had a real passion for geriatrics. Since then, I have worked in Skilled Nursing Facilities all over CT. And now I’m working home care.

If you could offer one tip to people, based on your experiences as an OT, what would it be?  
Based on my OT experiences, I learned life is unpredictable and we should always be prepared. Since becoming a COTA I have been practicing using my left (non-dominant) hand in all aspects of life because I never know when I may not have use of my right side which I depend on so much, This will give me the coordination in advance. And whenever my friends are buying homes, I tell them to look as if they could live there for rest of their lives and set up for old age modifications.