Physiotherapy and occupational therapy

I really enjoyed the presentation on physiotherapy and listening to the work she does in day programs. This was really surprising to me because I have worked in a day program and we don’t have anyone that comes into our program to provide extra services. We do have exercise classes but no one is specifically trained in that manner to do physiotherapy. She was very knowledgeable about physiotherapy and seems to work well with the individuals. I also like the program that she set up to encourage the individuals to want to participate. It was really exciting to hear how involved the participants were in the program and how it fostered there enjoyment in exercise. I also enjoyed learning about the occupational therapy services because they seem a lot more involved than they are in the states. When I hear about occupational therapy I typically think of it in the nursing home setting where they work with rehab residents and help them relearn skills so they can go home. The services she was describing were centered around every aspect of life and I found that very interesting. It may also be different because she is working with people of all ages and not just in a nursing home setting.  One thing I didn’t like is that the physiotherapist said that she will go to the program like once or twice a week and the residents are only really exercising when she is there. My hope is that other staff have picked up the responsibility of having the participants exercise, but that doesn’t always happen.

 

One thought on “Physiotherapy and occupational therapy

  1. I found these parts of the presentation really interesting as well! I also found it discouraging on the lack of time the physiotherapist has with the clients. It is similar at the day program I work at now. The PT only has time to meet with a few clients each day for about 30 minutes each, and this leaves a lot of other clients without services. The responsibilities usually fall onto the aides but even then, there is not enough time to encourage all of the clients to exercise because we have to focus on other objectives and personal care. I like the physiotherapist’s idea of group organized exercise in the community, but this is hard to implement in a larger population and is also time consuming.

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