What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy aims at promoting health and wellbeing through occupational activities. It focuses on recovery or maintenance of daily activities and professional skills of patients with physical, mental, or cognitive disorders. It also aims at eliminating environmental barriers to independence and participation in daily activities. Occupational therapy offered at JH is goal-based constantly assessing the progress made by the patient.
Helping patients perform functions of daily life
Occupational therapists at JH enable participation in the activities that patients want to engage in, throughout the span of their lives. The most common interventions involved in an occupational therapy process include helping differently-abled children take part in school and other similar social situations, helping people regain their skills while recovering from injury, and providing geriatric care and support for physical and cognitive conditions.
The Occupational therapy services offered at JH include:
- Individualized assessment of the current condition of the patient and personal goals to be achieved through occupational therapy
- Need-based intervention to ensure the person achieves the goals identified
- Regular evaluation to register the progress made and make changes to the process/plan wherever necessary
What does it include?
Recovery and participation in various occupations is incomplete without support from patient’s home and other environments they interact in. This would include workplaces, schools and other social set ups. The Occupational therapy services hence also include training and recommendations for adaptive equipment. Our therapists provide necessary guidance and instructions for the family members and/or the caregivers of the patient.
JH offers a holistic approach to occupational therapy considering that the patient is an integral part of a social setup and hence needs to adapt to various environments to be able to lead a fulfilling life.
Children and youth
Aiding children achieve their developmental milestones including fine motor & gross motor skills and hand to eye co-ordination. Such therapies require support from parents and care givers. It is hence pertinent to educate them to facilitate the child’s development holistically.
Elderly care
Occupational therapy for elderly focuses on enabling them to regain or enhance their independence after a specific ailment or clinical procedure. Apart from the regular therapy recommended, the patient’s home and social environments are assessed and improved to ensure a smooth transition of the patient from the recovery phase to an active lifestyle. Knowledge and instructions are shared with the family members and caregivers regarding the use of adaptive equipment, wherever required.
Acute care
Few health conditions require occupational therapies that run in parallel with the treatment. These include conditions like burns, HIV and acute mental health. In such cases the occupational therapist assesses the clients based on his cognitive, functional and psychological needs. Constant monitoring is included to observe progress and prescribe adaptive equipment once the patients are discharged from the hospital.
Mental health
Occupational therapy sessions for mental health are designed to help patients cope up and overcome their mental health issues. These therapies are aimed at enhancing the self-confidence and self-esteem of patients in various social situations.