Nicole Meert

I am an Occupational therapist with 8 years of experience, primarily in the Pediatric Outpatient hospital based care and inpatient NICU and follow up NICU care. I am also a Board member of the Indiana's Arthritis Foundation Board of Directors. I have mentored a over 7 students at various levels of their Occupational Therapy fieldwork experiences.

I also serve as a content expert/guest lecturer for a local university's OT program on feeding and eating and OT in the NICU. I enjoy learning, teaching/mentoring, and serving my community through volunteering activities.

Outpatient Pediatric Occupational Therapist-

*Provided OT services for patients ranging in age from 0-18 years old in a hospital based outpatient clinic. Services included evaluations, treatments, and discharge planning. Extensive experience with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder/Feeding and Eating disorders and delays, and sensory integration.

Moderate experience with splinting and functional casting fabrication, constraint induced movement therapy, and pediatric pelvic floor dysfunction. Created and implemented electronic scheduling work flow when paper scheduling was the department standard, prior to department transitioning to electronic documentation. Supervised over 7 students during various levels of their fieldwork experiences.

Three of those students were gainfully employed by my employer following their graduation and certification. One was also gainfully employed by another company in town following their graduation and certification.

*Cross-practiced in the NICU part time. Provided OT service to all NICU babies with OT therapy orders. Developed a standard caregiver education packet for current and future neurodevelopment for babies of any level of medical complexity.

Created caregiver education materials to provide education on their baby's progress, when therapy was not available for bedside education or communication. Located and provided relevant neurodevelopmental caregiver education materials from national hospital systems, non-profit organizations, and the CDC for caregivers to retain from birth to 5 years old, and how to identify developmental delays. Participated in the Neurodevelopmental Follow-up clinic for developmental screenings of former NICU patients.

Developed and implemented a NICU Follow Up Clinic caregiver survey to identify and mitigate barriers to patient access to attending the NICU Follow Up Clinic for continued developmental screenings until the age of 3 years old. Collaborated with bedside nurses, nurse practitioners, neonatologists, lactation consultants, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, case managers, and care coordinators. Ensured access to caregiver education materials also be available in Spanish for caregivers as well.

Member of the Arthritis Foundation Indiana Board of Directors-

*Served as Live Yes Network chair for 6 years.

*Presented as a content expert for topics including Movement is medicine, Gardening with Arthritis, and Pain management for people living with Lupus.

*Participated in all required board member duties including attending meetings for the board of directors, executive committee meetings with potential new board members, and Outreach committee meeting.

*Served as the Medical Honoree for the Northern Indiana Walk to Cure Arthritis in 2019.

*Participated in Advocacy Summit in Washington DC in 2019

*Participated in IN State Advocacy Day in Indianapolis in 2019

*Participated in fundraising for annual walk, annual run, and annual gala.

*Participated in volunteering opportunities when available.

Assisting with local university's OT program-

*Served on the fieldwork development committee during OT program development.

*Served as a local practitioner for application interviews since inaugural cohort.

*Served as a university affiliated member for applications interviews for 2 years

*Served as a content expert/guest lecture for Feeding and Eating and OT in the NICU presentations since inaugural cohort.

*Served as a secondary content advisor for a scholarly project group.

BLS CPR certified over 20 hours of NICU continuing education within the last 2 years attended NANT conference in 2025 and 2026

6-hour short course for Pediatric Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

Entry level Doctorate of Occupational Therapy from University of Indianapolis, IN August 2018

Bachelor of Science of Community health education from University of Indianapolis, IN May 2016