WATN: Michael Krueger, MSOT ‘15

While a special education teacher in the early part of his career, Michael Krueger, MSOT ‘15, was exposed to the Occupational Therapy (OT) profession by observing various OTs in different settings within the school district.

Since he had an innate interest in OT, he arranged to shadow a pediatric OT and work alongside some OTs in public school settings, which convinced him a career change was in order.

Through further research in the profession, Krueger was exposed to the world of rehabilitation, which he admits he didn’t know was part of OT. He was the sure OT was where he needed to go with his career.

Krueger applied to a few different schools, but Salus University’s OT program was at the top of his list. Although he would get accepted to Salus, he was wait-listed, a disappointment for sure.

Then one late August evening, while walking his dog at a local park, Krueger received a phone call. It was Ryan Hollister, now director of the Bennett Career Services Center at the University but then associate director of Admissions who oversaw the admissions process for OT, Speech-Language Pathology (SLP), Biomedicine and Blindness and Low Vision Studies (BLVS) programs.

“He said somebody had dropped out and that I was in and classes started Monday,” said Krueger, who had accepted a job with Chester County Hospital as a patient transporter and had already completed his physical for the new job. “I stopped at the state store and got some champagne on the way home, told my wife and we were thrilled. I just used the information from my physical and on-boarding process and slid right into the Salus slot. I’ll never forget that day. It couldn’t have worked out better.”

Krueger was in the second group that went through the then newly established OT program at Salus. At the time, the program was unaccredited and the instructors were all new, but experts in their fields.

"The instructors all worked in different specialities within the OT field, so they offered a good variety and background to our program,” said Krueger. “Everybody was just so kind, knowledgeable and genuinely wanted to see us succeed. They molded their students to be professional, responsible and dedicated additions to their newly chosen profession.”

Since graduating, Krueger worked in multiple practice settings until finding his niche. He started his second career at a Genesis skilled nursing facility, then community-based home care with Fox Rehabilitation and a Health-Pro long-term care facility. He spent two years in a leadership role with Genesis at a new state-of-the-art facility before moving on as an acute rehab therapist with Tower Health at Reading Hospital Rehabilitation at Wyomissing in Pennsylvania, where he is today.

Krueger is part of an interdisciplinary team that manages a block of six rooms, all in acute rehabilitation.

"Our patient population is comprised of a higher acuity level than my previous settings,” he said. His team works with patients who have sustained stroke, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injury, amputations, COVID-19 complications, motor vehicle accidents, or anything in between. He added the patients receive three hours of intense therapy a day.

“It is through their hard work that we often get to experience their rapid transformation back to independence,” said Krueger. “Our team has one goal in mind, to get our patients back home, living life just as they were prior to their hospitalization.”

Krueger is also head of the department’s leisure committee team of four and plans things like Christmas karaoke.

"There was a proud moment when a patient with expressive aphasia who had difficulty communicating was able to sing Jingle Bells in front of a crowd,” he said, adding that some stroke patients who are aphasic and can’t speak have the ability to sing as this comes from a different part of the brain. 

His team also offers patients opportunities for adaptive arts and crafts, grab-and-go puzzles, clinic-based friendly competition, daily newspaper deliveries, quarterly outdoor events, and even has plans to assist with a therapy dog who may be joining the hospital staff later this year.

When he’s not working, Krueger spends as much time as possible with his three-and-a-half year-old daughter Skyler, nine-month-old son Aaron, his wife, Laura, who is a hospice nurse practitioner and three rescue dogs.

Making a career change has turned out to be the right decision for Krueger. When he applied to Salus, there was an 11 percent employment deficit for OTs. So he figured it was a job that needed to be done and there were plenty of opportunities out there for him.

“I never saw myself working in the medical field. And, now it’s provided my family such a great life and livelihood,” he said. “It’s so rewarding. I wouldn’t have it any other way and I do thank Salus for leading the way.”