Seeing Life Through Others’ Eyes: Meet Our 2026 OT of the Year

In celebration of Occupational Therapy Month—when VNS Health recognizes our amazing Occupational Therapists and Occupational Therapy Assistants—we are delighted to announce Stacey Mislavsky as VNS Health’s 2026 Occupational Therapist of the Year. To see a list of all of the VNS Health Occupational Therapists that were nominated this year, please click here.

An empathetic problem-solver who always seeks the input of others, Stacey finds success for her patients by seeing things from their point of view—literally.

 “When I first visit a patient, I’ll sit right next to them and look where they’re looking,” explains Stacey. “Once I take in things from their viewpoint, I realize, ah, now I can see that trouble spot. Then I can come up with a better solution—move the end table, shift the nightlight, pick up the rug.”

Just recently, a patient was having trouble navigating from his new recliner to his wheelchair, which left him unable to get to the bathroom by himself. He was despondent over having to be overly dependent on his spouse, who was also frail, and the situation was unsafe.

So Stacey got to work: After studying things from the patient’s perspective, she carefully rearranged the furniture like a puzzle and helped him learn how to remove the wheelchair’s armrest so he could “pop right over” and make the transfer.

The change in the patient’s life was immediate and profound. “Once he was able to navigate himself to the bathroom and not have to call for his spouse, everything changed,” says Stacey. “He was proud of himself, and I was so proud I wanted to march in a parade for him!”

Stacey has wanted to be an occupational therapy since 1998, when she participated in a high school community-service trip to Nicaragua to build houses after the destruction of Hurricane Mitch. While her classmates hammered and sawed, she volunteered in vastly understaffed health clinics, helping people relearn how to stand, walk, and recover other daily functions. “I knew I definitely wanted to do this,” she says, “and make a difference this way in people’s lives.”

Stacey has practiced OT in all kinds of settings—pediatrics, acute, subacute. It wasn’t until she joined VNS Health in 2013, though, that she realized home care was the perfect fit. When she was providing care in a hospital setting, she would work hard to picture the home life that the patient described. Now, providing therapy in the home, she gets to see that daily life in person, just the way the patient does.

As someone who always seeks out other people’s perspectives, Stacey is the ideal colleague, mentor and preceptor. “I love going into the field with students and new OTs, as well as experienced colleagues,” she says. “No matter how much or how little experience we have in the field, everyone brings a new idea, a new vision, a new way to solve a problem, and I love learning from them.”

Stacey still recalls going out with an OT fresh out of school who recommended a new type of urinal for a patient, pitched at an angle that made all the difference. “I didn’t know that product existed,” she says, “and now I recommend it all the time.” She even sees things from her colleagues’ perspective when it comes to accepting her OT of the Year award. “I know what it means to take time out of your incredibly busy day to fill out the nominating form,” she says. “The fact that my coworkers did this for me—I am beyond moved. It’s very rewarding.”