April is Occupational Therapy (OT) Month! We hear it all the time: “I am retired! I don’t have an occupation anymore, so why would I need OT?” Our residents might be retired, but OT is still beneficial.
Our residents may not have a 9-5 pm job that takes them out of the home anymore, but there are many daily activities that feed into vocational wellness that Occupational Therapy addresses every day.
One of the goals of OT is to promote independence in functional abilities. Here are just a few of the many ways our OTs and COTAs help residents every day:
- Fine Motor Skills – Maintain dexterity and improve grip strength. Make things like sewing, cleaning, or handwriting easier.
- Visual Assistance – Perform at the top of your abilities by learning about assistance for visual challenges.
- Environmental Modifications – Are our residents’ homes as safe as possible? What about when they travel to volunteer, participate in group activities, etc.? OT can help with environmental modifications to help our residents stay safe.
- Assistive Devices and Adaptive Equipment – Did you know simple devices exist, like grab bars and reacher tools, to help make tasks easier to complete? There are also more complex resources, such as voice-activated technology, to help with making lists, medication reminders, etc.
Of course, the list above is not all-encompassing of the scope and skill sets of our fantastic OTs and COTAs. If you are a PT/PTA/ST/DOR, find your OTs and COTAs and thank them for the work that they do every day. Their hard work is a huge part of what makes our teams successful in helping our residents return to or maintain the highest quality of life!
Thank you to all of our OTs and COTAs across the country!