My Experience With Occupational Therapy

1. Please summarize how this experience influenced your understanding of this profession as a ‘good fit’ for you personally.

Many of my rehabilitation experiences were focused around a younger population including infants at the Waisman Center, elementary aged children at Children’s Therapy Network, and middle school aged children at Schools of Hope. Capitol Lakes allowed me to expand my understanding of occupational therapy to the geriatric population. With my background in psychology, I was extremely thrilled and intrigued to observe and participate in cognitive assessments within the elderly population. Although other occupational therapists I previously shadowed communicated with other healthcare professionals regularly, volunteering at
Capitol Lakes demonstrated the importance of an interdiscpilnary team constantly working together. I was able to observe occupational therapists along with physical therapits, speech therapists, nurses, social workers, and doctors working together to determine the best plan of action for each client. This interdisciplinary approach allowed therapists to gain knowledge from other departments that influenced their therapeutic plans. This experience proved to be a ‘good fit’ because I was able to a be a part of the rewarding process towards tremendous improvements in independence and quality of life. Volunteering at Capitol Lakes was extroadinarily meaningful to me, as I was able to help occupational therapists in therapy sessions with elderly individuals experiencing dementia, similar to my grandmother. I used the information I learned at Capitol Lakes to help make environmental safety modifications in my grandmother’s home while maintaining and promoting her health. This experience propelled me to get an amazing, rewarding job as a resident assistant at Capitol Lakes after I graduated.

2.
Reflect on your experience with an occupational therapist. Based on your expectation of what it would be like, describe something that was different than you expected it to be.

An unexpected hurdle of working with elderly individuals in an inpatient setting was the amount of individuals who refused to attend therapy sessions. When transporting patients, sometimes they would refuse therapy and conclude that they were too tired for therapy or that they were simply not going that day. Occasionally, I was able to talk some individuals into attending therapy after explaining the immense benefits. However, patients would still refuse to go, and I would let the occupational therapist know. The occupational therapists were often able to adapt their therapy plans to conduct the session in the comfort of the patient’s own room. They did everything they could to meaningfully engage the patient in the therapeutic process, such as modifying the environment or adapting sessions around an individual’s interests, such as playing their favorite music while doing balance exersises. In addition to refusing treatment, I was also surprised that thearpy sessions were not always aimed at regaining full independence. Instead, sessions were often focused on making everyday tasks easier for the patients through environmental modifications and assistive technology, while improving their quality of life. Occupational therapists frequently talked to patients about who was assisting them with certain
tasks and what tasks they wanted to work on improving for themselves, such as hanging up clothes in a closet. Each therapy session was completely focused on building skills for activities of daily living that the client wanted to participate in on a regular basis.

3.
Meaningful engagement is an important aspect of occupational therapy. Describe how the treatment, interactions, or results of the therapy appeared meaningful to a client.

Working as a resident assistant at Capitol Lakes, I was responsible for taking care of one resident who broke both her knee and hip in a fall. When I met her she was determined to walk again and frequently asked to go to occupational therapy. I watched as the OTs installed a bar next to her bed so she could independently move from her bed to her wheelchair. They designed special boots for her to wear that would help her balance. The occupational therapists modified her room to fit her wants and needs while also working on strength building exercises, even with her ability to grab and hold on to objects. After each session, the occupational therapists would give her new exercises or activities to work on, and she would follow each idea energetically and multiple times a day. It was clear that her meaningful engagement in occupational therapy would help her on her journey to walking again. She loved interacting with the therapists and always brought many quesitons. With the help of physical therapists, the client was able to walk again and now uses a walker to move around. When I asked her about her experience with occupational therapy, she concluded that she wouldn’t have been able to live properly without the OTs that worked with her. She expressed that she was able to adapt to her physical disability
and stay motivated throughout each step of the process because of the occupational therapists at Capitol Lakes.