Omay Water-Schmeder, PT

Bio

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and started my own family there before moving to Sonoma County in 1982. As my children grew older, I decided to leave a successful eight-year career as a computer consultant in the business world to pursue a long-held desire to study and practise physical therapy. I was fortunate to get exposure to the field by volunteering and subsequently working as a PT aide in the Kaiser Santa Rosa hospital as I returned to school. After earning my MPT degree from the University of California, San Francisco, in 1995, I began working here on an on-call basis and secured a regular position in 1997. I enjoy working within a large department with dedicated professionals where we share and learn from one another according to our special interests. And, I appreciate the ease of communication among all the other departments at our facility. I am fortunate to have a job I enjoy and to work in an environment that helps me to do a good job.

I believe, and research supports this, that staying physically active is the key to staying independent throughout our lives. I am particularly interested in helping people learn how to reduce their risk for falling and have developed and teach the Balance classes and the Fall Prevention class here at our facility. More recently, supported by Kaiser's Community Benefit program, I have also been working with the Sonoma County Area Agency on Aging's Senior Safety/Fall Prevention program, "StepWise". To quote from Kaiser's video "No More Falls", "Let's make a deal, no more falls!".

In addition, I specialize in helping patients who suffer from vesibular problems.