Occupational therapy interventions enhance life for seniors
As professionals whose job it is to help patients adapt, occupational therapists in skilled nursing everywhere have had to focus on adapting this past year just as much as patients.
At SKLD facilities across Michigan and Ohio, the OTs found creative ways to continue helping their patients reach milestone achievements.
Karla Noppert of SKLD Beltline says, “We have had to bring our treatment therapy gym to them. To practice using a heat source, we brought a toaster to their rooms to have them make toast. We also used a hot plate to cook an egg. It’s definitely challenged us to be very creative in order to meet some of our goals.“
“For individuals who need to address stairs, in some buildings we brought stairs into the hallway or used stools braced against a wall to have the person step up and down. Although it doesn’t get the same reciprocal movement, it does help them focus on the ability to lift weight to the next level,” says Karla.
Renee DuFresne an OT at SKLD West Bloomfield says, “I’ve been able to help my patients fold clothes, practice range of motion, work on arm strength and endurance all from their rooms.”
Therapy equipment in a patient room at SKLD West Bloomfield
April is OT month to bring awareness to the benefits of occupational therapy
SKLD occupational therapists embody the passion, purpose and possibility promoted by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) by helping their patients and residents thrive in their daily life.
Karla has been an OT for almost 40 years. Karla says, “It’s been a long time and I just love the profession. The reason I went into OT initially was because I liked the diversity to work with any age population from pediatric to geriatric. Over the course of my career, I’ve been in almost every area of OT imaginable--even legal litigation.”
Renee at SKLD West Bloomfield has been in the field for 28 years. Renee has an inspirational story behind what got her interested in working as an occupational therapist.
“I was in my first year in a college for business when my grandfather, who was living with us, had a stroke and needed an occupational therapist to come to the house. Because my college schedule was adaptable, I let the OT into the home and helped him adapt his environment until he passed. At that time I knew that occupational therapy was the career for me.”
The diversity of ages and stages for OT patients means OTs are busy helping patients in different ways every day on the job. Renee says, “As OTs, we look at our patients’ weaknesses and assess where they cannot continue living on their own and completing activities of daily living. There are three spectrums of working on daily living based on age: play for children, work for adults and leisure for the elderly.”
Achieving success through occupational therapy is a team effort
Through her work, Karla is able to impact many different areas of her patients’ lives at SKLD Beltline. “I appreciate the fact that our profession incorporates elements of other professions. PT coordinates with toilet transfers, speech therapy coordinates with cognitive function and speech retrieval, and there is an element of nursing chronic management.”
Because of the overlap, occupational therapy is sometimes confused with physical therapy. Karla clarifies, “OT addresses a person’s ability to be able to complete their daily occupations--whether that’s self-care, accessing community, completing home management or finances, working, driving or any activity or occupation that a person engages in.”
“It’s our job to address any problems a patient has in those areas and provide solutions so they can be as successful as possible in daily life. This can mean adapting an activity, providing equipment or teaching energy conservation,” says Karla.
Motivation and social involvement from loved ones are also crucial to the success of OT. Karla says, “The interventions and adaptive equipment work best if a person is willing to engage and work successfully. The interventions will work if everyone is on board.”
She continues, “If an individual family member lives with a community and has home provider services, everyone should be involved and have a goal in mind. If the individual’s goal is to be as independent as possible, having the family members help with energy conservation and adaptive equipment is key.”
Inspiration and impact
There are countless stories of patients whose lives have been positively impacted by OT. Renee says, “The best compliment to me is when a patient has to come back to the environment and requests me as their occupational therapist again. It’s the most rewarding to have them remember the experience fondly.”
Karla shares a story of using creativity to use a patient’s interests to motivate them in occupational therapy:
“A gentleman came into the facility two years ago with a number of chronic heart conditions. He was morbidly obese and the only thing that got him going in life was hunting.
“I applied for a hunting license for him so he could hunt from his vehicle, and the state of Michigan granted permission before he was discharged. He practiced straight weights of eight pounds as if he were lifting a gun to practice the movement. The next hunting season, he was proud to share with me that he was successful on a trip and shot a deer.”
Another one of Karla’s patients had an incredible journey. She shares, “I had an individual doing vocational rehabilitation as a manager at McDonald’s. She went through all the work and eventually went on to join the army as a paratrooper during Desert Storm.”
Bringing awareness around the role of OT in senior care
Karla attributes some of her success as an OT to her passion for compassion. “I hope OT month can reinvigorate the compassion toward our patients. It’s been a hard time for everyone, and we as OTs see our patients on a daily basis and can be a source of light. It’s important to be strong for them and show love and compassion to help them reach their goals and improve their lives.“
Renee says, “For OT month, I hope that people gain a better understanding of what we do as OTs. Sometimes when I go to see an individual they say they are retired and don’t need a job. I need to explain that the job of an OT is not to find individuals a job, but to ensure they can succeed at their occupation in life, whether it’s work, leisure or being able to take care of themselves.”