Occupational Therapist develop creative solutions that help people do what they want, when and where they want.
I have been fortunate to have caring Occupational therapists such as Ian and Shannon at Lyndhurst. I feel lucky that I have full use of my arms and hands that many of the tasks such as brushing teeth and hair were easy to accomplish. Learning how to dress and turning in bed have been a little more challenging. Those booties you need to wear at night to prevent pressure ulcers combined with the level of my injury are like boat anchors in the middle of the night. Ian and Sharon in combination with my Physio Suzie have given me the skills to conquer this task.
In addition to assisting you in learning to do daily tasks my OT’s have also been great listening boards for emotional and personal issues that I have had.
What Do Occupational Therapists Do?
Occupational Therapists are the health professionals who are trained in biological, physical, medical and behavioral sciences like neurology, anatomy, physiology, human development, psychology, orthopedics, etc. There are many kinds of works that occupational therapists do. Some of them are as given below –
1. Working with children
Assisting children to get their developmental milestones like motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
Educate and make the parents and care takers a part of the children’s normal development and learning.
2. Rehabilitation and elderly care
Aiding clients to get back or improve their daily lives after the events like hip replacement or stroke.
Evaluating and adjusting clients’ home and community environment to enhance their safety and independence.
Educating clients and caretakers about the use of adaptive equipment.
3. Acute Care
Specialists provide care in different health conditions like surgery, burns, HIV and acute mental health.
Determining clients’ awareness, function and physiological needs.
Examining clients’ function and improvement, using adaptive equipment in order to assure safety after discharge from the hospital.
4. Injury Management
Using specialized evaluations to find out the functional requirements of many jobs and clients’ abilities to get back to work.
Educating clients in safe and secure work practices.
Adjusting the work environment to fulfill the needs of individuals in order to prevent or minimize the injuries or illnesses.
5. Mental Health
Creating individual or group programs and activities to develop clients’ independence in day to day activities.
Enhancing coping strategies for clients to help them recover their mental health problems.
Advance clients’ confidence and self-esteem to counter adverse social situations
Occupational therapists, often called OTs are:
- university educated professionals that apply their specialized knowledge and skills to recommend a course of preventive or corrective action that will help people lead more productive and satisfying lives,
- trained to understand not only the medical and physical limitations of a disability or injury, but also the psychosocial factors that affect the functioning of the whole person – their health and their wellness, and
- a regulated medical profession; occupational therapists must be registered with their provincial regulator in order to practice legally in Canada.
