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Occupational therapists help people address concerns they are having with their ability to do every-day tasks.
If you are wondering whether you could benefit from the services of an occupational therapist, please check the link on the right called "Do I need OT?". It may help you think about your own situation and needs.
An OT can help to:
- provide information, strategies, and/or assistive aids or devices to help people to manage day to day occupations. For example, patients may be taught compensatory strategies that enable them to continue their leisure activities.
- remove barriers and make environments as safe, supportive and enabling as possible
- provide support and education to clients and families/caregivers e.g.transitioning into alternate environment
- to reduce the risk of social isolation and its detrimental consequences, OT helps elderly patients maintain familiar social activities and encourages new ones.
- OT can provide strategies to promote continued learning and to keep the mind active; such strategies help promote feelings of self-worth and may help prevent premature dementia.
Through Occupational Therapy, Older Adults Learn to:
- Adapt to changes brought about by aging, such as decreased energy and vision
- Safely perform routine activities such as dressing and cooking
- Increase physical strength and endurance to maintain self-sufficiency
- Identify community resources such as senior centers and stroke clubs
- Cope with the losses of aging such as the death of a spouse or friend
- Adapt the home for safety and efficiency
- Recognize and counteract depression
Through Occupational Therapy Caregivers Learn:
- Techniques to reduce the physical and emotional stress related to care giving
- Ways to identify and reinforce the older adult’s abilities for independent living
- Transfer and position techniques that improve safety and reduce caregiver effort
- Meaningful activities the homebound older person can perform
- Which adaptive devices and aids can facilitate caretaking tasks
- How to identify and use community resources such as respite care and “Meals on Wheels”
- How to adapt the home environment for safety and mobility