July 4, 2025 • 25 mins
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Occupational therapists serve as vital healthcare professionals in helping individuals achieve meaningful, purposeful, and safe lives as they age in place. Their comprehensive approach encompasses everything from cognitive and perceptual assessments to physical evaluations and environmental modifications.
• OTs evaluate whether patients can safely return home by assessing cognitive, visual, perceptual, and physical abilities
• Home assessments include checking for mobility issues, tripping hazards, furniture safety, and accessibility of essential items
• Modern homes are increasingly becoming therapeutic spaces as hospital stays shorten dramatically
• OTs excel at working as team players with contractors, designers, electricians and other aging in place professionals
• Prevention is crucial—modifying homes before accidents happen helps seniors maintain independence longer
• Most seniors are unaware of how OTs can help them remain safely in their homes
• OTs often serve as the missing puzzle piece in the aging in place journey
Check out the Aging in Place Directory to find OTs and other aging in place professionals in your area. Subscribe to our podcast for weekly episodes about aging safely and independently at home.
Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Aging in Place
Directory podcast.
I'm Esther Kane.
I am a retired occupationaltherapist and a certified Aging
in Place specialist and aretired internet marketer,
although I think, with all thework that I'm doing with Aging
(00:20):
in Place Directory and our otherwebsites and podcasting and
social media, I think I'm stilldefinitely still in the world of
internet marketing, which isgood, it's good, it's always
good to learn.
Today's topic is going to beabout of an OT in aging in place
aging in place niche.
(00:41):
Now, unless you don't know whatan OT is I assume you do since
you're at this podcast.
But just in case, an OT, anoccupational therapist is a
health care professional,normally works alongside a
speech therapist and a physicaltherapist.
(01:04):
The main goal of an OT is tohelp an individual, no matter
what age, to have a purposeful,meaningful, safe life, and that
means you know.
That could mean you know,helping them to be able to do a
(01:24):
job, helping them to do dailytasks around the house, around
the yard, helping them to enjoytheir leisure activities, their
hobbies, even driving.
There are OTs who specialize indriving, driving training.
There are OTs that specializein visual, perceptual.
(01:46):
There are OTs that specializein all kinds of different
aspects.
The one thing that I love aboutbeing an OT is that it
encompasses so many differentfactors.
I mean OTs can work withindividuals who were born with a
disability and they help themto perform tasks that you know
(02:08):
makes their life meaningful andpurposeful and fun and engaging
and still safe.
So that involves everythingfrom cognition to visual
perception, to physical toadaptive equipment, to adapting
the environment.
You know, it involveseverything.
(02:28):
All to get psychological even,it involves all different
aspects of that.
It's a jack-of-all-trades kindof thing, because it takes a
jack-of-all-trades to perform alot of tasks.
But if someone has a stroke orsuffers a brain aneurysm or has
a chronic illness that isdepleting them of their mobility
(02:52):
or you know whatever, and theyjust need to do a few things
around the house, then the OT isthe one who can help to get
them back to doing as much ofwhat they were doing before this
happened.
So of course, modifying a homeis simply part of that process,
(03:14):
along with everything elsecognition and psychological and
visual, perceptual and adaptiveequipment and then it's
everything from fine motor toit's everything.
So that's why it makes it sodifficult to even describe what
an OT does, because it'sdifferent for each and every
single patient or client, so itisn't necessarily about a lot of
(03:40):
people.
You know I would say, hi, I'man OT.
They'll say, oh, oh, you findpeople jobs.
No, not exactly occupationaltherapy.
Occupational just meanswhatever your life entails.
It could be playing golf andthen playing bridge at night and
making dinner, you know foryourself, that could be your
(04:01):
occupation, but it could also bea job, of course, anything at
all, all right.
So what is the role of OT in theniche of aging in place?
So an OT goal, my goal when Iwas in a rehab, in rehab
hospitals.
(04:21):
It was my role, my I had thestrongest voice in that room to
decide whether or not thepatient was going to go home.
So that meant that I had toassess the patient cognitively,
visually, perceptually andphysically, if they can maneuver
(04:42):
in their home.
That also meant that I had toassess the home itself as well,
and what we often did is wewould take the patient with us
to the home.
We would go to the house and wewould see how they would move
through the home.
You know, did the walker orwheelchair or cane or whatever
(05:04):
they have any trouble movingaround?
Were there items on the floorthat they could trip over?
Or was there enough room aroundthe furniture?
That was often the largestissue.
Was the furniture even safe?
Glass coffee tables were, youknow, dangerous Square coffee
tables and dining room tablesand anything square with a sharp
(05:26):
edge was also not a great idea.
Could they reach the pots andpans and plates?
And you know, and you know, wasthe refrigerator accommodating
enough that they could reachitems in the refrigerator?
There were a lot of differentissues that we needed to address
, depending on where the personlived, what the person was able
(05:49):
to do, but I was the one todetermine that.
I have a very good story for you, because one of the physicians
that was in one of the teammeetings said that Mrs Smith I
forget her name, but we'll callher Mrs Smith was able to go
home, that he felt she wasindependent to go home and she
(06:09):
was certainly ambulating quitewell.
She was able to feed herself.
She had trouble following one,two, three steps, that was true,
so making a sandwich was notalways the easiest thing for her
, but he felt that familymembers could certainly help her
with those issues by havingfood delivered, that kind of
(06:32):
thing.
But my concern was the factthat she wasn't able to really
comprehend her medications.
And he said no, no, no, sheread the pill bottle for me, so
she knows what to do.
And I said no.
So I took him by the hand outof the meeting and over to Mrs
Smith's room.
(06:52):
We walked in there and I saidhi, mrs Smith, how are you doing
today?
And she was pleasant as usual.
Oh, I'm doing fine.
I said that's great.
You know, we're talking aboutyou going home and now I know
you're taking some medication.
Can you, can you read thatbottle of medication?
That's that's by you?
I mean, do you know what it is?
She goes oh, yes, these are theblue pills that I have to take.
(07:16):
I said that's great.
Can you read what it says?
And she read you know, one pillbefore a meal in the morning.
And then she, you know, put thebottle down.
I said that's great.
And I looked at the doctor.
I said now, what I'm not sureabout is, you know, retention
and comprehension.
That's really the issue.
(07:36):
That's what I said.
And I turned around and went toMrs Smith and said Mrs Smith,
do you know what medication itis that you have to take?
She goes yes, I have to takethe blue pill.
I said that's right.
When do you take that?
She said I'm not sure.
I think I take it in theevening.
(07:57):
And I said, okay, do you haveto take it with food?
She goes oh no, I can take itwith my glass of wine.
I looked at the doctor.
I don't know that this isnecessarily a safe thing.
So he said, all right, well,maybe she can go home with you
(08:17):
know some adaptations, somethingto remind her or something to
tell her or signs or somethinglike that.
So we obviously needed to workwith her a little bit longer
instead of sending her home.
I mean, he was ready to sendher home that afternoon.
So obviously there's theselittle issues, just these little
things to make the everydaythings not only plausible.
(08:41):
You know that she could do them, but safe, she had to be safe.
Having the medication with winewas not necessarily a good idea
Actually it wasn't and sheneeded to take that in the
morning with food.
So, yeah, and this was justlike a minute after she read it.
So anyway, so that was.
(09:02):
That is basically the role of anot and home health ots would do
the same thing.
Most ots do the same thing thatwork in geriatrics.
I never worked in pediatricsexcept for my rotations, so I
don't have much information onpediatrics, but I definitely
worked in geriatrics for 12years, all right.
(09:25):
So the home these days isbecoming more and more a
therapeutic space.
A therapeutic space.
You know the days of Dr Welbyand Dr Kildare, if you are old
enough to remember those, whensomebody would go into a
hospital and spend time therefor a week or two or whatever,
(09:46):
before they went home.
Those days are gone Now.
You get into the hospital, youget treated and even if you have
surgery, depending on thesurgery, you go home that day.
So the home environment isbecoming more and more the
therapeutic space to recover.
But that means that the spaceitself must be safe for the
(10:11):
person.
You know, let's say, they hadsome kind of surgery that
affected their mobility.
Well, now can they maneuverinto the bathroom?
Can they take care ofthemselves in the bathroom?
You know, if you have shouldersurgery of some kind, it may be
difficult to wipe yourself, toclean yourself, you know to to
(10:32):
shower, to put on clothing, todo almost anything.
I fractured my wrist ten yearsago from a very bad fall.
I have six pins and two platesin there.
Now that'll be there till theday I go.
But that kept me immobile for avery long time.
(10:54):
And I remember the first time Itried to open a can of soup
with a can opener.
I didn't have an electric canopener, which I needed to get
one, but I didn't have one and Ijust couldn't hold the can
because I had no strength in myhand and I had to use my arm and
I just started crying.
(11:16):
I mean, it's very difficult todo things when you're used to
doing them in a different way,on top of all the emotional and
pain that goes on when you havean injury like that.
So the home itself has to be, orshould be, made therapeutically
(11:36):
safe for the patient returninghome.
So that really should be partof the conversation you have
when you go in for a surgery,especially if you are living
alone or have somebody just comein every now and then, and it
may be that you need somebody tocome in and stay with you for a
while.
That may be.
But the changes in the housecould involve every.
(11:59):
It could be as simple as anelectric can opener or, you know
, increasing the lightingthroughout the house, or it
could be much more, like youknow, adding grab bars and
replacing the toilet with ahigher one, or getting a tall
adaptation on the toilet to makeit taller.
It could be changing the showerto a walk-in shower with
(12:22):
non-slip flooring and zerothreshold.
Stair lifts or stair treads,non-slip treads it could be so
many different things.
Ramps, everything.
It could be a lot of differentthings depending on the person
that is coming home and thecondition of the home, and that
is where the OT excels.
The training for OT is almostentirely on that, taking into
(12:48):
account everything again thepsychological, the physical, the
visual, perceptual, thecognitive.
All of that is involved in theassessment and in how the OT
sees not only the individual buthow the OT sees the environment
as well.
You're changing.
At some point you can't changethe individual anymore, so then
(13:12):
you have to change theenvironment to accommodate the
individual.
That was the mantra I wastaught in school, day in and day
out.
So but the magic with ots isthat they're very good team
players.
They're very good at workingwith other members of the aging
(13:32):
in place team.
We all know everybody working inaging in place knows that it is
not a one-man shop, it is not aone-man project there's.
It's impossible, I think I mean.
Prove me wrong, tell me in thecomments.
You know, let me know.
Um, but honestly, you could useso many different professionals
(13:55):
in an aging in place project.
It could be a designer, acontractor, you know a handyman,
electrician, a plumber.
You know tile people forshowers, you know glass
installers or not, you knowfloor installers and then, of
course, adaptive equipment.
(14:16):
You know all the new modernhome.
You know what am I talking?
A safe home, not safe home,smart home, smart home devices
all of that can be integratedinto, you know, all these people
into one team to create thesafe home for the person,
(14:37):
whatever it is that they need.
It could be anything.
You know low vision, dementia,a stroke, you know anything.
And all of those fields, all ofthose specialties, work
together with the OT.
You know the OT can determinewhat is needed, what may be best
(14:58):
, but it's the other providersthat can actually provide it,
other providers that canactually provide it and they may
have insight into a new productor a project that they have
done for someone else with asimilar injury or home that you
know the OT can learn from aswell.
Certainly, no one knowseverything in Aging in Place.
(15:19):
We are all constantly learning,but as OTs, we were always
taught to work as a team withother members.
You have to, especially in anaging in place.
So the role that I think agingin place professionals really
should push or not the role it'sthe idea that aging in place
(15:40):
professionals should push isprevention.
You want to stay independent inyour home.
You want to live in your homefor as long as possible.
Let me help you do that, andthe way we do that is by
modifying the home to make it assafe as possible.
You know, even if you did havean injury and you you know, be
(16:02):
it a fall or a chronic illnessor whatever, making the home
safer can help you to recoverbetter in the home versus
causing another accident.
I was at a conference not toolong ago, several months ago in
Kansas City, where thisoncologist was giving a
presentation on aging in placeapp that he had developed,
(16:28):
called dwell safe.
Check it out, it looks reallycool and, anyway, what he was
saying was that what he saw asan oncologist is that he would
be treating his patients andthen he would send them home,
only to find out a month or solater that they were back in the
hospital because of an injurythat they had at home.
(16:48):
Because obviously, when you'regoing through chemo and or
radiation, you become very weakand if you become weak you tend
to fall bump into things.
And if your home isn't modifiedto cushion those incidences, to
help you from having those,well, they're not going to help
(17:09):
you.
You are going to be weak, mostlikely from the chemo and
radiation.
But then how can you not injureyourself?
How can you not fall throughthat square glass coffee table?
Or even if you do hit thecoffee table, that it doesn't
break into glass, that you don'thave to scoot through a small
(17:30):
narrow doorway?
You know, widen it to make iteasier.
The whole idea is to make itsafer.
So he felt that the home wasreally going to be the future
hospital, the future treatmentcenter for recovery for patients
, and he saw that homes were notnecessarily safe for older
(17:50):
adults and that's why he wantedto develop this Dwell Safe app.
So take it from the mouth ofpeople who are actually doing
the work and seeing the resultsof what they're doing and kudos
to him being an oncologist andseeing the significance of aging
(18:10):
in place.
You know, prevention, really.
So if you're not an OT, ifyou're a contractor or designer,
interior decorator or handyman,or you know, plumber,
electrician, moving, you know,moving company for seniors,
(18:31):
chefs for seniors I mean,there's so many services for
seniors.
If you're any one of those, howcan you work with an OT?
The way to start is one toreach out to a local OT, a group
Association.
Invite them into your projectplanning.
(18:51):
You know, do presentationsthere, they do home assessments,
they can provide universaldesign input and they can help
you to meet your clients needs.
And that ends up giving makingyou a more well-rounded provider
for your clients.
(19:12):
Not only are you coming in toprepare a meal for them or
coming in to put in a new toiletexcuse me for them, you are
coming in with other skills,with another professional to
help even more.
You're the full roundedeverything.
And what is that going to do?
That's going to put your namein their little rolodex mental
(19:38):
or physical rolodex and they'regoing to call you the next time
they need something because youare the source of services for
them, even though that may notbe your main stick, but that is
what you can do.
If you're a caregiver, obviouslytalk to your loved one's
(19:58):
physician for a referral for OTservices or connect with one
privately.
You can contact a home healthagency and see if they can help
you, but you can also lookonline and see if there are any
private OTs working in your area.
It's a wonderful opportunity toreally get a full picture of
(20:22):
all the things that could bedone to make the home safer.
Not that you have to doeverything.
I mean they may recommend aresidential elevator, but you
may not have the funds at themoment for a residential
elevator or you may not feelit's necessary at the moment.
But have the discussion withthe ot, see what they have to
(20:46):
say and, of course, with theperson installing the
residential elevator see whatthey have to say.
It doesn't cost anything tohave somebody come out and take
a look.
All right, ots, in my opinion,are often the missing puzzle in
the entire Aging in Placejourney.
(21:07):
Most seniors I'm 67 and most ofmy friends are seniors and they
all are not as aware of OTsbefore they met me, before they
knew me.
Now they know, because it'smostly what I talk about so well
, amongst other things, but theyare now aware of the role that
(21:31):
an OT can help them to stay intheir home.
There isn't anyone that I knowin my age group or older that
wants to leave their home, eventhough the home may be 5,000
square feet and they are theonly person living in there.
I can talk to them till I'mblue in the face and they are
(21:54):
not going to downsize.
They simply don't want todownsize.
Okay, nothing wrong with that.
But now let's make the housesafer so you can stay in it as
long as possible.
So that's the, that's the,that's the job.
That's why I'm always callingout the rugs.
Get rid of those rugs.
So if you are interested inoccupational therapy services,
(22:18):
if you think it's something thatis would be useful for you, for
your aging parents, for yourbusiness, I urge you to get in
contact with OTs in your area.
Look at the directory Aging inPlace directory.
I'm working very hard to get asmany Aging in Place
professionals in that directoryas possible so that you can find
(22:41):
people in your local area toconnect with, not only to work
with, but to refer and to use ifyou need them yourself or you
know, or for an aging parent.
So that's my take onoccupational therapy in the
Aging in Place niche.
I think it's a perfect fitniche.
(23:07):
I think it's a perfect fit.
It's why I went into this nicheand started doing this podcast
and created the Aging in Placedirectory.
I also haveseniorsafetyadvicecom and
several other websites allfocused on aging, because that
was my specialty for many, manyyears.
So combining that witheverything I learned in internet
marketing just made it a verysimple decision to do that as my
(23:30):
soft retirement.
Okay, so don't forget to give usyour comments, let us know what
you think of this podcast,subscribe and we put out a
podcast each and every week.
We may start doing them alittle more often, I'm not sure
yet we have to look at ourschedules.
(23:50):
Um, we both are extremely busywith all our sites and social
media and videos and everythingelse, but we do so enjoy doing
the podcasts and I am lookingforward to giving you more and
more and even some wonderfulinterviews.
I have some lined up that'll becoming up very soon.
(24:10):
All right, take care.
Thank you so much for listeningand we'll see you next time.
Hello everyone and welcome to the Aging in Place
Directory podcast.
I'm Esther Kane.
I am a retired occupationaltherapist and a certified Aging
in Place specialist and aretired internet marketer,
although I think, with all thework that I'm doing with Aging
(00:20):
in Place Directory and our otherwebsites and podcasting and
social media, I think I'm stilldefinitely still in the world of
internet marketing, which isgood, it's good, it's always
good to learn.
Today's topic is going to beabout of an OT in aging in place
aging in place niche.
(00:41):
Now, unless you don't know whatan OT is I assume you do since
you're at this podcast.
But just in case, an OT, anoccupational therapist is a
health care professional,normally works alongside a
speech therapist and a physicaltherapist.
(01:04):
The main goal of an OT is tohelp an individual, no matter
what age, to have a purposeful,meaningful, safe life, and that
means you know.
That could mean you know,helping them to be able to do a
(01:24):
job, helping them to do dailytasks around the house, around
the yard, helping them to enjoytheir leisure activities, their
hobbies, even driving.
There are OTs who specialize indriving, driving training.
There are OTs that specializein visual, perceptual.
(01:46):
There are OTs that specializein all kinds of different
aspects.
The one thing that I love aboutbeing an OT is that it
encompasses so many differentfactors.
I mean OTs can work withindividuals who were born with a
disability and they help themto perform tasks that you know
(02:08):
makes their life meaningful andpurposeful and fun and engaging
and still safe.
So that involves everythingfrom cognition to visual
perception, to physical toadaptive equipment, to adapting
the environment.
You know, it involveseverything.
(02:28):
All to get psychological even,it involves all different
aspects of that.
It's a jack-of-all-trades kindof thing, because it takes a
jack-of-all-trades to perform alot of tasks.
But if someone has a stroke orsuffers a brain aneurysm or has
a chronic illness that isdepleting them of their mobility
(02:52):
or you know whatever, and theyjust need to do a few things
around the house, then the OT isthe one who can help to get
them back to doing as much ofwhat they were doing before this
happened.
So of course, modifying a homeis simply part of that process,
(03:14):
along with everything elsecognition and psychological and
visual, perceptual and adaptiveequipment and then it's
everything from fine motor toit's everything.
So that's why it makes it sodifficult to even describe what
an OT does, because it'sdifferent for each and every
single patient or client, so itisn't necessarily about a lot of
(03:40):
people.
You know I would say, hi, I'man OT.
They'll say, oh, oh, you findpeople jobs.
No, not exactly occupationaltherapy.
Occupational just meanswhatever your life entails.
It could be playing golf andthen playing bridge at night and
making dinner, you know foryourself, that could be your
(04:01):
occupation, but it could also bea job, of course, anything at
all, all right.
So what is the role of OT in theniche of aging in place?
So an OT goal, my goal when Iwas in a rehab, in rehab
hospitals.
(04:21):
It was my role, my I had thestrongest voice in that room to
decide whether or not thepatient was going to go home.
So that meant that I had toassess the patient cognitively,
visually, perceptually andphysically, if they can maneuver
(04:42):
in their home.
That also meant that I had toassess the home itself as well,
and what we often did is wewould take the patient with us
to the home.
We would go to the house and wewould see how they would move
through the home.
You know, did the walker orwheelchair or cane or whatever
(05:04):
they have any trouble movingaround?
Were there items on the floorthat they could trip over?
Or was there enough room aroundthe furniture?
That was often the largestissue.
Was the furniture even safe?
Glass coffee tables were, youknow, dangerous Square coffee
tables and dining room tablesand anything square with a sharp
(05:26):
edge was also not a great idea.
Could they reach the pots andpans and plates?
And you know, and you know, wasthe refrigerator accommodating
enough that they could reachitems in the refrigerator?
There were a lot of differentissues that we needed to address
, depending on where the personlived, what the person was able
(05:49):
to do, but I was the one todetermine that.
I have a very good story for you, because one of the physicians
that was in one of the teammeetings said that Mrs Smith I
forget her name, but we'll callher Mrs Smith was able to go
home, that he felt she wasindependent to go home and she
(06:09):
was certainly ambulating quitewell.
She was able to feed herself.
She had trouble following one,two, three steps, that was true,
so making a sandwich was notalways the easiest thing for her
, but he felt that familymembers could certainly help her
with those issues by havingfood delivered, that kind of
(06:32):
thing.
But my concern was the factthat she wasn't able to really
comprehend her medications.
And he said no, no, no, sheread the pill bottle for me, so
she knows what to do.
And I said no.
So I took him by the hand outof the meeting and over to Mrs
Smith's room.
(06:52):
We walked in there and I saidhi, mrs Smith, how are you doing
today?
And she was pleasant as usual.
Oh, I'm doing fine.
I said that's great.
You know, we're talking aboutyou going home and now I know
you're taking some medication.
Can you, can you read thatbottle of medication?
That's that's by you?
I mean, do you know what it is?
She goes oh, yes, these are theblue pills that I have to take.
(07:16):
I said that's great.
Can you read what it says?
And she read you know, one pillbefore a meal in the morning.
And then she, you know, put thebottle down.
I said that's great.
And I looked at the doctor.
I said now, what I'm not sureabout is, you know, retention
and comprehension.
That's really the issue.
(07:36):
That's what I said.
And I turned around and went toMrs Smith and said Mrs Smith,
do you know what medication itis that you have to take?
She goes yes, I have to takethe blue pill.
I said that's right.
When do you take that?
She said I'm not sure.
I think I take it in theevening.
(07:57):
And I said, okay, do you haveto take it with food?
She goes oh no, I can take itwith my glass of wine.
I looked at the doctor.
I don't know that this isnecessarily a safe thing.
So he said, all right, well,maybe she can go home with you
(08:17):
know some adaptations, somethingto remind her or something to
tell her or signs or somethinglike that.
So we obviously needed to workwith her a little bit longer
instead of sending her home.
I mean, he was ready to sendher home that afternoon.
So obviously there's theselittle issues, just these little
things to make the everydaythings not only plausible.
(08:41):
You know that she could do them, but safe, she had to be safe.
Having the medication with winewas not necessarily a good idea
Actually it wasn't and sheneeded to take that in the
morning with food.
So, yeah, and this was justlike a minute after she read it.
So anyway, so that was.
(09:02):
That is basically the role of anot and home health ots would do
the same thing.
Most ots do the same thing thatwork in geriatrics.
I never worked in pediatricsexcept for my rotations, so I
don't have much information onpediatrics, but I definitely
worked in geriatrics for 12years, all right.
(09:25):
So the home these days isbecoming more and more a
therapeutic space.
A therapeutic space.
You know the days of Dr Welbyand Dr Kildare, if you are old
enough to remember those, whensomebody would go into a
hospital and spend time therefor a week or two or whatever,
(09:46):
before they went home.
Those days are gone Now.
You get into the hospital, youget treated and even if you have
surgery, depending on thesurgery, you go home that day.
So the home environment isbecoming more and more the
therapeutic space to recover.
But that means that the spaceitself must be safe for the
(10:11):
person.
You know, let's say, they hadsome kind of surgery that
affected their mobility.
Well, now can they maneuverinto the bathroom?
Can they take care ofthemselves in the bathroom?
You know, if you have shouldersurgery of some kind, it may be
difficult to wipe yourself, toclean yourself, you know to to
(10:32):
shower, to put on clothing, todo almost anything.
I fractured my wrist ten yearsago from a very bad fall.
I have six pins and two platesin there.
Now that'll be there till theday I go.
But that kept me immobile for avery long time.
(10:54):
And I remember the first time Itried to open a can of soup
with a can opener.
I didn't have an electric canopener, which I needed to get
one, but I didn't have one and Ijust couldn't hold the can
because I had no strength in myhand and I had to use my arm and
I just started crying.
(11:16):
I mean, it's very difficult todo things when you're used to
doing them in a different way,on top of all the emotional and
pain that goes on when you havean injury like that.
So the home itself has to be, orshould be, made therapeutically
(11:36):
safe for the patient returninghome.
So that really should be partof the conversation you have
when you go in for a surgery,especially if you are living
alone or have somebody just comein every now and then, and it
may be that you need somebody tocome in and stay with you for a
while.
That may be.
But the changes in the housecould involve every.
(11:59):
It could be as simple as anelectric can opener or, you know
, increasing the lightingthroughout the house, or it
could be much more, like youknow, adding grab bars and
replacing the toilet with ahigher one, or getting a tall
adaptation on the toilet to makeit taller.
It could be changing the showerto a walk-in shower with
(12:22):
non-slip flooring and zerothreshold.
Stair lifts or stair treads,non-slip treads it could be so
many different things.
Ramps, everything.
It could be a lot of differentthings depending on the person
that is coming home and thecondition of the home, and that
is where the OT excels.
The training for OT is almostentirely on that, taking into
(12:48):
account everything again thepsychological, the physical, the
visual, perceptual, thecognitive.
All of that is involved in theassessment and in how the OT
sees not only the individual buthow the OT sees the environment
as well.
You're changing.
At some point you can't changethe individual anymore, so then
(13:12):
you have to change theenvironment to accommodate the
individual.
That was the mantra I wastaught in school, day in and day
out.
So but the magic with ots isthat they're very good team
players.
They're very good at workingwith other members of the aging
(13:32):
in place team.
We all know everybody working inaging in place knows that it is
not a one-man shop, it is not aone-man project there's.
It's impossible, I think I mean.
Prove me wrong, tell me in thecomments.
You know, let me know.
Um, but honestly, you could useso many different professionals
(13:55):
in an aging in place project.
It could be a designer, acontractor, you know a handyman,
electrician, a plumber.
You know tile people forshowers, you know glass
installers or not, you knowfloor installers and then, of
course, adaptive equipment.
(14:16):
You know all the new modernhome.
You know what am I talking?
A safe home, not safe home,smart home, smart home devices
all of that can be integratedinto, you know, all these people
into one team to create thesafe home for the person,
(14:37):
whatever it is that they need.
It could be anything.
You know low vision, dementia,a stroke, you know anything.
And all of those fields, all ofthose specialties, work
together with the OT.
You know the OT can determinewhat is needed, what may be best
(14:58):
, but it's the other providersthat can actually provide it,
other providers that canactually provide it and they may
have insight into a new productor a project that they have
done for someone else with asimilar injury or home that you
know the OT can learn from aswell.
Certainly, no one knowseverything in Aging in Place.
(15:19):
We are all constantly learning,but as OTs, we were always
taught to work as a team withother members.
You have to, especially in anaging in place.
So the role that I think agingin place professionals really
should push or not the role it'sthe idea that aging in place
(15:40):
professionals should push isprevention.
You want to stay independent inyour home.
You want to live in your homefor as long as possible.
Let me help you do that, andthe way we do that is by
modifying the home to make it assafe as possible.
You know, even if you did havean injury and you you know, be
(16:02):
it a fall or a chronic illnessor whatever, making the home
safer can help you to recoverbetter in the home versus
causing another accident.
I was at a conference not toolong ago, several months ago in
Kansas City, where thisoncologist was giving a
presentation on aging in placeapp that he had developed,
(16:28):
called dwell safe.
Check it out, it looks reallycool and, anyway, what he was
saying was that what he saw asan oncologist is that he would
be treating his patients andthen he would send them home,
only to find out a month or solater that they were back in the
hospital because of an injurythat they had at home.
(16:48):
Because obviously, when you'regoing through chemo and or
radiation, you become very weakand if you become weak you tend
to fall bump into things.
And if your home isn't modifiedto cushion those incidences, to
help you from having those,well, they're not going to help
(17:09):
you.
You are going to be weak, mostlikely from the chemo and
radiation.
But then how can you not injureyourself?
How can you not fall throughthat square glass coffee table?
Or even if you do hit thecoffee table, that it doesn't
break into glass, that you don'thave to scoot through a small
(17:30):
narrow doorway?
You know, widen it to make iteasier.
The whole idea is to make itsafer.
So he felt that the home wasreally going to be the future
hospital, the future treatmentcenter for recovery for patients
, and he saw that homes were notnecessarily safe for older
(17:50):
adults and that's why he wantedto develop this Dwell Safe app.
So take it from the mouth ofpeople who are actually doing
the work and seeing the resultsof what they're doing and kudos
to him being an oncologist andseeing the significance of aging
(18:10):
in place.
You know, prevention, really.
So if you're not an OT, ifyou're a contractor or designer,
interior decorator or handyman,or you know, plumber,
electrician, moving, you know,moving company for seniors,
(18:31):
chefs for seniors I mean,there's so many services for
seniors.
If you're any one of those, howcan you work with an OT?
The way to start is one toreach out to a local OT, a group
Association.
Invite them into your projectplanning.
(18:51):
You know, do presentationsthere, they do home assessments,
they can provide universaldesign input and they can help
you to meet your clients needs.
And that ends up giving makingyou a more well-rounded provider
for your clients.
(19:12):
Not only are you coming in toprepare a meal for them or
coming in to put in a new toiletexcuse me for them, you are
coming in with other skills,with another professional to
help even more.
You're the full roundedeverything.
And what is that going to do?
That's going to put your namein their little rolodex mental
(19:38):
or physical rolodex and they'regoing to call you the next time
they need something because youare the source of services for
them, even though that may notbe your main stick, but that is
what you can do.
If you're a caregiver, obviouslytalk to your loved one's
(19:58):
physician for a referral for OTservices or connect with one
privately.
You can contact a home healthagency and see if they can help
you, but you can also lookonline and see if there are any
private OTs working in your area.
It's a wonderful opportunity toreally get a full picture of
(20:22):
all the things that could bedone to make the home safer.
Not that you have to doeverything.
I mean they may recommend aresidential elevator, but you
may not have the funds at themoment for a residential
elevator or you may not feelit's necessary at the moment.
But have the discussion withthe ot, see what they have to
(20:46):
say and, of course, with theperson installing the
residential elevator see whatthey have to say.
It doesn't cost anything tohave somebody come out and take
a look.
All right, ots, in my opinion,are often the missing puzzle in
the entire Aging in Placejourney.
(21:07):
Most seniors I'm 67 and most ofmy friends are seniors and they
all are not as aware of OTsbefore they met me, before they
knew me.
Now they know, because it'smostly what I talk about so well
, amongst other things, but theyare now aware of the role that
(21:31):
an OT can help them to stay intheir home.
There isn't anyone that I knowin my age group or older that
wants to leave their home, eventhough the home may be 5,000
square feet and they are theonly person living in there.
I can talk to them till I'mblue in the face and they are
(21:54):
not going to downsize.
They simply don't want todownsize.
Okay, nothing wrong with that.
But now let's make the housesafer so you can stay in it as
long as possible.
So that's the, that's the,that's the job.
That's why I'm always callingout the rugs.
Get rid of those rugs.
So if you are interested inoccupational therapy services,
(22:18):
if you think it's something thatis would be useful for you, for
your aging parents, for yourbusiness, I urge you to get in
contact with OTs in your area.
Look at the directory Aging inPlace directory.
I'm working very hard to get asmany Aging in Place
professionals in that directoryas possible so that you can find
(22:41):
people in your local area toconnect with, not only to work
with, but to refer and to use ifyou need them yourself or you
know, or for an aging parent.
So that's my take onoccupational therapy in the
Aging in Place niche.
I think it's a perfect fitniche.
(23:07):
I think it's a perfect fit.
It's why I went into this nicheand started doing this podcast
and created the Aging in Placedirectory.
I also haveseniorsafetyadvicecom and
several other websites allfocused on aging, because that
was my specialty for many, manyyears.
So combining that witheverything I learned in internet
marketing just made it a verysimple decision to do that as my
(23:30):
soft retirement.
Okay, so don't forget to give usyour comments, let us know what
you think of this podcast,subscribe and we put out a
podcast each and every week.
We may start doing them alittle more often, I'm not sure
yet we have to look at ourschedules.
(23:50):
Um, we both are extremely busywith all our sites and social
media and videos and everythingelse, but we do so enjoy doing
the podcasts and I am lookingforward to giving you more and
more and even some wonderfulinterviews.
I have some lined up that'll becoming up very soon.
(24:10):
All right, take care.
Thank you so much for listeningand we'll see you next time.
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