The Occupation of Living

~ by Carol Vartuli

April is Occupational Therapy Month, a time to consider what OT is, and how it could benefit you or your loved one.

What exactly is occupational therapy? Is it help for those suffering from career change?
Not exactly.

Occupational therapists (OTs) are professionals who assess an individual’s physical, emotional, psychological, cognitive, and social conditions. They determine how those conditions impact that person’s engagement in the ‘occupations’ of life: self-care, home management, work, and social or leisure pursuits.

“An occupational therapist’s goal is to help clients achieve maximum participation in the lives they want to live,” says OT Kathleen Brennan. She’s been an occupational therapist for 24 years, the last 16 of them at The Osborn.

Occupational Therapy helps children, young adults, and adults who are coping with on-going limitations or recovering from major surgery or illness. In recent years, occupational therapy has sharpened its focus on productive aging.

“Our society’s rapidly aging population, increased longevity, the changing world of work, and baby boomers’ focus on quality-of-life issues are all factors that will increase the need for services in these areas” (AOTA, American Occupational Therapy Association).

Issues that impact seniors’ lives include falls, arthritis, diabetes, dementia, joint replacement, and low vision. Occupational therapy provides ways to mitigate the impact of those challenges on their lives.

For example, a person with progressive macular degeneration may gradually lose independence in performing daily tasks. Occupational therapists approach the issue from several fronts, starting with basic safety considerations, like the lighting and furniture arrangement in the person’s living space. OTs can provide adaptive tools for low vision, and teach the client how to use them. They can also teach low-vision clients new techniques, like visual tracking or scanning, to make remaining vision more efficient.

“We use compensatory strategies to help a person with low vision learn to operate at the dinner table, such as thinking of their plates as a clock: vegetables at noon, meat at three o’clock, rice at six,” says Kathleen. “We might make a placemat into a helpful template, by cutting holes where the cup, plate, and utensils naturally fit.”

The Osborn Pavilion admits about 500 people for inpatient rehabilitation each year. Most of them are not Osborn residents, but are referred to the Pavilion for short-term therapy by hospitals in the New York, Westchester, and Connecticut areas. They may have had acute care for medical or orthopedic issues, like knee replacement, cardiac surgery, hip fracture, diabetes, or pulmonary disease.

The Osborn’s two, full-time occupational therapists and a certified therapy assistant engage with these patients while they are recovering at The Osborn, as well as providing outpatient home visits for full time residents of The Osborn.

Occupational therapists collaborate with The Osborn’s physical and speech therapists, which ensures that patients not only achieve their best physical function, but their best overall life function.

As OT Brennan explains, “Sometimes patients don’t realize they need OT, saying, ‘I just need to work on my balance.’”

“My response,” she says with a chuckle, “is that ‘you may be able to walk to your front door and open it, but wouldn’t it be better if you had been able to put your pants on first?’ ”

Learn more about The Osborn's short-term and outpatient rehabilitation.

The information in the above article is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.