April is Occupational Therapy Month! This year’s theme is “Occupational Therapy Brings Possibilities to Life.”
Occupational Therapy (OT) is an ever-evolving field. OT can be traced back to 100 BC when Greek physicians treated patients for mental or emotional disorders with massage, music, baths, and exercise. The 1800s led to patients recovering from Tuberculosis being treated while hospitalized. Later, WW1 transformed Occupational Therapy into a field of practice with the focus on soldiers resuming daily living activities after injuries.
Occupational Therapy has continued to evolve into a field that improves the lives of people struggling with physical and/or mental impairments through holistic approaches.
Occupational Therapy strives to improve patient engagement, leisure, and safety with daily activities through movement, adaptations, and modification of activities and environments. Occupational therapists and occupational therapist assistants provide care in a variety of locations to include adult settings like hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health or outpatient, academic, workplace, and pediatric areas of focus such as early childhood intervention, schools, outpatient facilities, and hospitals.
Did you know? Occupational Therapist ranked #10 in Best Health Care Jobs in 2021 by U.S. News and World Report!
Here is what a couple of our FP therapists have to say about Occupational Therapy:
- Why did you choose the field of Occupational Therapy?
“I believe we are called to make this world a better place every day with our actions and our attitudes. Three ways that we accomplish this is through love, empathy, and quality. Being an occupational therapist, I have the privilege of displaying all three of these traits daily. It begins with creating an atmosphere of love for every individual that I encounter and every individual that I have the privilege to lead. It continues with showing every client/patient empathy for their situations as if they were my own family. It is finalized with displaying the highest quality possible with my interventions and care. ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ I hope to embody that quote every single day.” – Eric Walker, OTR/L, Director of Rehab, Functional Pathways
- What is the craziest treatment you have ever done with a resident to meet a goal?
“I have had some interesting treatments! I have taken people to funerals, movies, home assessments, worked on driving their car, bowling, cooking, sewing, holding their grandbaby, changing diapers, swimming, dancing, and all of it seems normal after the fact. But there is always a time when someone asks you to teach them something you have never done before. My initial response is normally a funny face with a deer in the headlights look, but then I ponder and say, ‘If you’re game to try this, I am up for the challenge.’ I am honored to be included, and patients that have faith in me to try anything. I want to learn what they love, or what they need to do, and figure out how to make it happen.” – Courtney Ruiz, COTA, Director of Rehab, Functional Pathways
“Medicine adds days to lives, occupational therapy adds life to days.”