Words by Anna Lee Vaughn | Images by Ryan McGill
25-year-old Hannah Price hails from the small town of Eclectic, Alabama. She is well-acquainted with the simplicities of small-town living, so transitioning to Jasper felt like stepping into another version of her hometown. Though she and her husband, Jordan, reside in Leeds, Hannah spends most of her time in Jasper, fulfilling her calling as an Occupational Therapist at TherapySouth.
Hannah began her college education at Auburn University as a pre-pharmacy major. However, she soon discovered this career path did not suit her passions and started looking into physical therapy. She shadowed physical therapists before shadowing an occupational therapist near her hometown, and soon fell in love with the field of OT.
“I appreciated how varied occupational therapy is. I can choose to work in a large number of settings or with various populations. From a functional standpoint, when someone came in with an injury, being able to get them back into doing the things that mean the most to them is something I grew to enjoy,” says Hannah.
She switched her major and minor to exercise science and psychology, respectively. She completed her undergraduate studies at Auburn and then graduated with her Master of Occupational Therapy degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). While at UAB, she took a semester-long class where she learned about hand therapy and chose to focus on this specialization in her clinical rotations, further shaping her career.
Upon graduating, Hannah originally planned to apply for a position at a TherapySouth clinic closer to home. However, her husband, who is in the military, was sent to Birmingham for work, causing Hannah to change her plans.
“We had to move. And I was glad that TherapySouth has tons of locations up here. I started filling in here in Jasper in the Fall of 2023, and I didn’t mind the drive because I grew up having to drive a while to get to a bigger city,” Hannah recalls. “After filling in for a while, that trickled into my full-time position there now.”
Since beginning full-time work at TherapySouth in Jasper in January of this year, Hannah has enjoyed the similarities Jasper shares with her hometown. She has grown in her career and enjoys bringing occupational therapy services to the community. Hannah specializes in working with hands and wrists, seeing patients of all ages and various injuries. She says that this daily variation keeps her passion for her career alive.
In the future, Hannah plans to sit for the Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) Exam, and she and her husband hope to eventually move home to Eclectic. In the meantime, she hopes to continue using her passion to connect with her small town away from home.
“Everyone has been so supportive and kind, and I love being here to make a difference in my patients’ lives. Just being able to bring relief to them through only one session is my favorite thing,” says Hannah. “It’s important to me to have a servant’s heart and connect with this community, and I plan to keep doing that because that’s how I was raised.” WL
