Occupational Therapy helps individuals live life to its fullest

Versailles Health Care Center is celebrating April as Occupational Therapy Month. Occupational therapy enables people of all ages live life to its fullest by helping them promote health, prevent—or live better with—injury, illness, or disability. It is a practice deeply rooted in science and is evidence-based, meaning that the plan designed for each individual is supported by data, experience, and “best practices” that have been developed and proven over time.

Occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants focus on “doing” whatever occupations or activities are meaningful to the individual. It is occupational therapy’s purpose to get beyond problems to the solutions that assure living life to its fullest. These solutions may be adaptations for how to do a task, changes to the surroundings, or helping individuals to alter their own behaviors.

When working with an occupational therapy practitioner, strategies and modifications are customized for each individual to resolve problems, improve function, and support everyday living activities. The goal is to maximize potential. Through these therapeutic approaches, occupational therapy helps individuals design their lives, develop needed skills, adjust their environments (e.g., home, school, or work) and build health-promoting habits and routines that will allow them to thrive.

By taking the full picture into account—a person’s psychological, physical, emotional, and social makeup as well as their environment—occupational therapy assists clients to do the following:

Achieve goals

Function at the highest possible level

Concentrate on what matters most to them

Maintain or rebuild their independence

Participate in daily activities that they need or want to do

Founded in 1917, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) represents the interests and concerns of more than 140,000 occupational therapists, assistants and students nationwide. The Association educates the public and advances the profession of occupational therapy by providing resources, setting standards including accreditations and serving as an advocate to improve health care. Based in Bethesda, Md., AOTA’s major programs and activities are directed toward promoting the professional development of its members and assuring consumer access to quality services so patients can maximize their individual potential. For more information, go to www.aota.org.

The Occupational Therapy Team at Versailles Health Care Center work together to help their patients improve their activities of daily living. The Rehab Clinic at Versailles Health Care Center has one Occupational Therapist on staff, Kathy Osterfeld, as well as three Certified Occupational Therapist Assistants, Sarah Birt, Renae Borchers, and Cindy Bowers. If you are interested in learning more about the occupational therapy services at The Rehab Clinic at Versailles Health Care Center, call 937-526-0130 or visit www.versailleshealthcare.com.