Occupational therapist
helps keep your loved one independent at home :
Insight into Occupational Therapy - OT Week - Jessica Suh
•Oct 21, 2020
From the 26th October to the 1st November 2020, we are celebrating OT Week. We spoke to Jessica Suh, our Occupational Therapy Discipline Specialist, about the processes involved with Occupational Therapy. This video covers Home Modifications, Personal Care, Dressing, Grasp Development, Sensory Processing, Sensory Strategies and Access to Funding.
- - - - - - - - - -
An Occupational Therapist for advice on home modifications & advice to reduce your chance of falling at home and more.
Ask your current Provider as they probably have one in their Team. Or you can search for yourself.
Click here to find an Occupational Therapist who are members of Occupational Therapy, Australia.
An Occupational Therapist assesses a person's ability to gain access to a particular environment. Assessments may be specific to your individual situation or general for a public environment or to the technique and equipment used to access it. Occupational therapists can help make the most of a person’s mobility with any number of daily activities—whether it’s writing, typing, cooking, driving, bathing, dressing, or grooming. Modifications for work and to the workplace environment also fall under the expertise of the occupational therapist.
-------------------Occupational Therapist responsibilities and duties. The responsibilities and duties section is the most important part of the job description. Here you should outline the functions this position will perform on a regular basis, how the job functions within the organisation and who the employee reports to.
Examples of Occupational Therapist responsibilities. These are some of the tasks your OT can help you with. Do ask your Provider to have the OT they have as an essential part of their Team, to visit you in your home and explain how they can help YOU in your everyday tasks.
Occupational therapy:
Goals of occupational therapy include maximizing fine motor coordination, especially of the upper extremities, reducing energy expenditure, increasing safety and independence, and improved efficiency of activities of daily living.
Features of the OT program may include:
Speech and swallowing
Low voice volume (hypophonia) often occurs in PD. Several Parkinson's specific voice training programs have been developed, which share an emphasis on consciously increasing voice volume as a key strategy. Other features may include modification of speech patterns such as use of shorter sentences, breathing exercises, and range-of-motion exercises for the muscles of speech.
Drooling (sialorrhea) can be a common feature of advanced PD. The origin of the problem is not in increased saliva production, but reduced spontaneity of swallowing. Awareness of the problem, and consciously swallowing more often, may be effective. If not, treatments may include a small dose of an anticholinergic medication under the tongue, or injection of botulinum toxin into the salivary glands to temporarily paralyze them. Both of these reduce saliva production.
Management of swallowing difficulties may include instruction to take smaller bites, to completely empty the mouth before taking the next bite, and eating softer foods.
Occupational Therapist's can also offer solutions eg in Parkinson's disease, it hinders the many little jobs of daily living, from bathing and using the toilet, to cooking and eating. These licensed practitioners ask, "What does the person need to do, want to do, and have to do to be able to maintain his daily activities, his life, and his lifestyle?" says Nancy Lowenstein, an OT at Boston University.
The OT (occupational therapist) offers strategies and adaptive devices -- from extra-long shoehorns to utensils with built-up, easy-grip handles -- to navigate activities more easily and safely.
When possible, you or other family members should go to the initial physical therapy and occupational therapy visits with her. Understanding the challenges that she faces will make it easier to provide the kind of support and patience that she needs from you. You can remind her of the OT or PT's techniques and become part of the solution.
§ Positioning and Lifting Patients in bed
And don't forget that when your loved one returns home from hospital, that YOU are the one who will be doing most of the 24/7 care. Do ask the visiting Nurse or Allied Health Worker to teach you how to lift them up and make them comfortable in their bed. You need to be particularly aware of bedsores if they cannot move in bed themselves.
Have a look here so that you know how you can help them feel comfortable when you are re-positioning and lifting them in their bed.
POSITIONING AND LIFTING PATIENTS-Title2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H68Sa04s_1s
helps keep your loved one independent at home :
Insight into Occupational Therapy - OT Week - Jessica Suh
•Oct 21, 2020
From the 26th October to the 1st November 2020, we are celebrating OT Week. We spoke to Jessica Suh, our Occupational Therapy Discipline Specialist, about the processes involved with Occupational Therapy. This video covers Home Modifications, Personal Care, Dressing, Grasp Development, Sensory Processing, Sensory Strategies and Access to Funding.
- - - - - - - - - -
An Occupational Therapist for advice on home modifications & advice to reduce your chance of falling at home and more.
Ask your current Provider as they probably have one in their Team. Or you can search for yourself.
Click here to find an Occupational Therapist who are members of Occupational Therapy, Australia.
An Occupational Therapist assesses a person's ability to gain access to a particular environment. Assessments may be specific to your individual situation or general for a public environment or to the technique and equipment used to access it. Occupational therapists can help make the most of a person’s mobility with any number of daily activities—whether it’s writing, typing, cooking, driving, bathing, dressing, or grooming. Modifications for work and to the workplace environment also fall under the expertise of the occupational therapist.
-------------------Occupational Therapist responsibilities and duties. The responsibilities and duties section is the most important part of the job description. Here you should outline the functions this position will perform on a regular basis, how the job functions within the organisation and who the employee reports to.
Examples of Occupational Therapist responsibilities. These are some of the tasks your OT can help you with. Do ask your Provider to have the OT they have as an essential part of their Team, to visit you in your home and explain how they can help YOU in your everyday tasks.
- Conduct patient assessments and evaluations to determine their physical condition, limitations, medical histories and personal goals
- Communicate with doctors and other healthcare providers to confirm plans of care
- Advise family members and other supportive individuals about the level of care the patient needs
- Provide occupational therapy guidance, support and education during patient sessions
- Teach patients how to interact with adaptive technology
- Show patients how to use assistive devices
- Assist patients with purchasing products to help them achieve their goals
- Guide patients through graded activities
- Generate reports for patients and their doctors and families
- Visit patients’ homes to help install or use assistive devices
Occupational therapy:
Goals of occupational therapy include maximizing fine motor coordination, especially of the upper extremities, reducing energy expenditure, increasing safety and independence, and improved efficiency of activities of daily living.
Features of the OT program may include:
- Use of orthoses and adaptive equipment
- Home and workplace modification, improving accessibility, and removing obstructions
- Adaptation and simplification of utensils, toileting articles, beds, etc
Speech and swallowing
Low voice volume (hypophonia) often occurs in PD. Several Parkinson's specific voice training programs have been developed, which share an emphasis on consciously increasing voice volume as a key strategy. Other features may include modification of speech patterns such as use of shorter sentences, breathing exercises, and range-of-motion exercises for the muscles of speech.
Drooling (sialorrhea) can be a common feature of advanced PD. The origin of the problem is not in increased saliva production, but reduced spontaneity of swallowing. Awareness of the problem, and consciously swallowing more often, may be effective. If not, treatments may include a small dose of an anticholinergic medication under the tongue, or injection of botulinum toxin into the salivary glands to temporarily paralyze them. Both of these reduce saliva production.
Management of swallowing difficulties may include instruction to take smaller bites, to completely empty the mouth before taking the next bite, and eating softer foods.
Occupational Therapist's can also offer solutions eg in Parkinson's disease, it hinders the many little jobs of daily living, from bathing and using the toilet, to cooking and eating. These licensed practitioners ask, "What does the person need to do, want to do, and have to do to be able to maintain his daily activities, his life, and his lifestyle?" says Nancy Lowenstein, an OT at Boston University.
The OT (occupational therapist) offers strategies and adaptive devices -- from extra-long shoehorns to utensils with built-up, easy-grip handles -- to navigate activities more easily and safely.
- If the physical therapist prescribes a walker, for example, the OT might visit your family member at home to figure out how she'll use it while getting clothing out of the closet.
- With each problem at hand, Lowenstein says, the OT might advise changing the way she does the activity or making changes in the home environment.
- If she has trouble carrying items around the kitchen because of a tremor, she could use a small rolling cart to move them instead.
- The risk of slipping in the shower or bathtub could be reduced by adding grab bars, a tub seat, or both.
When possible, you or other family members should go to the initial physical therapy and occupational therapy visits with her. Understanding the challenges that she faces will make it easier to provide the kind of support and patience that she needs from you. You can remind her of the OT or PT's techniques and become part of the solution.
- For instance, says Lowenstein, if stiffness and slowness make it a challenge for your family member to open a box of cereal, you could buy a container that's easy to open and transfer the cereal into it.
- Or if she has trouble bending down to reach the pots and pans on the bottom kitchen shelf, you might suggest moving them to a more convenient spot.
§ Positioning and Lifting Patients in bed
And don't forget that when your loved one returns home from hospital, that YOU are the one who will be doing most of the 24/7 care. Do ask the visiting Nurse or Allied Health Worker to teach you how to lift them up and make them comfortable in their bed. You need to be particularly aware of bedsores if they cannot move in bed themselves.
Have a look here so that you know how you can help them feel comfortable when you are re-positioning and lifting them in their bed.
POSITIONING AND LIFTING PATIENTS-Title2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H68Sa04s_1s