The Importance Of Being An Occupational Therapist

Growing up, I have been an individual who has pushed myself beyond the minimum requirements in order to succeed. In high school I excelled in both academics and athletics. I graduated in the top 10% of my class and lettered in hockey and tennis my sophomore, junior, and senior year. I worked hard and put in extra time in order to set myself apart from others. Succeeding in both school and athletics made me a responsible, reliable, and an organized individual. These experiences made me a versatile individual and have given me a work ethic that has benefited me with my academics in college and with my work and volunteer experiences.

To be able to participate in one 's own life, to do the things we want to do, and to competently perform the activities that form part of our daily, weekly or monthly routines, is a common goal for most people.  This not only includes taking part in the basic activities of self-care, such as grooming and dressing, but also extends to our work and leisure activities.  It is through doing things that we learn and develop as human beings.  The occupational therapy profession believes that being prevented or hindered in some way from participating in the activities that are important to us could adversely affect our health and wellbeing.

social awareness and social skills (See appendix A). The OTS scored 31 on self-awareness. The

Occupational Therapist enables people to engage and participate in everyday activities trough occupation. The latter role is not only applicable for individuals but also groups or populations. Eventually, with the increase of the aging population, expensive health care services, occupational therapists will have to incorporate health promotion practices into their actual roles.To cope with this phenomenon and to better meet older adult’s needs, the occupational therapist 's role would benefit from being enlarged.Expanding their knowledge and their practices in promoting health will facilitate their work in other domains.This will help them to shift from an individual to a population approach. To achieve that transition, therapists should be more involved in decisions taken by politicians regarding health and to develop services and programs that promote well-being, health, and quality of life. Also, collaboration with other fields such as schools, workplaces, industries, deputies and organizations will help them spread strategies that promote awareness and enable the population to control and maintain an independent healthy lifestyle. Also, therapists understand that the environment can be a crucial factor on health population. Therefore ,they can put pressure on the government to make public places more accessible to disabled people such as providing the subway of a wheelchair ramp and adapt crosswalks to the blind by adding pedestrian signals that include speakers at

The concepts and principles in the Founding Vision of 1917 and the Centennial Vision of 2007 establish a connection between our past and present. Comparing the two Visions shows that many of our modern day values were first outlined by occupational therapy’s founders a century ago. The Founding Vision reads, “The particular objects for which the corporation is formed are as follows: The advancement of occupation as a therapeutic measure; for the study of the effect of occupation upon the human being; and for the scientific dispensation of this knowledge” (National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy [NSPOT], 1917). Where the Centennial Vision reads, “We envision that occupational therapy is a powerful, widely recognized, science-driven,

I chose occupational therapy as a career for many reasons. I feel fulfilled when I help others. I want to enjoy my job and not work for money. Moreover, I want to help patients reach their goals because the outcomes make me feel proud. When my brother was little, he had a hard time grasping the pen to write. An Occupational Therapist used to come to our house a few times a week. I would see the therapist try to help my brother write. My mother recently told me that when I was younger, I said, "I want to be just like that therapist."

The name of the society changed in 1923, due to hospitals wanting a national directory of qualified occupational therapists. There now was a minimal standard of training that had to be met before an individual was put in the directory (AOTA, 2009). The name was changed to the American Occupational Therapy Association. The American Medical Association worked with the American Occupational Therapy Association starting in 1933 on getting improved education programs for occupational therapists (AOTA, 2009).

Occupational therapy is much more than enhancing activities of daily living to me. I see occupational therapy as helping people achieve daily freedom and making attainable goals to improve their physical and mental health while providing a professional relationship to encourage trust and reliability throughout treatment. Something as simple as tying shoes or being able to grab a fork to eat can make all the difference in the world to the patients an occupational therapist will treat. I have been working at a hand clinic since September and have seen that the small achievements like the tying of the shoes of the ability to bend the finger 10 more degrees puts a big smile on the faces of the patients and improves their outlook and demeanor towards their injury. Encouraging home exercise, helping with self cares, teaching writing skills and helping provide custom splints are all aspects that I have seen with my job and observation of occupational therapy as a whole. When I started my job at the hand clinic a therapist told me that the most basic occupational therapy explanation she could provide me is that occupational therapy is a way of helping others achieve a better level of daily living for things that they want and or need to do in life than when they sought help from therapy.

Occupational Therapy is a vital segment of the health care field. Individuals in this profession make a difference in the lives of others by helping their patients function effectively despite their disability, illness, or injury. They help by teaching patients many activities of daily living tasks which can include, grooming, toileting, dressing, eating, mobility, and much more! Along with the daily living tasks, Occupational Therapy helps individuals to be productive and successful in ways they want to be, like going school, taking care of others, managing their homes, preparing meals. Most importantly, they help their patients adapt to their environments and increase their independent function by helping them perform tasks with as little help from others as possible. Without Occupational Therapy, some patients with temporary disabilities could have a permanent disability. If individuals receive the Occupational treatments, they can prevent the loss of function.

I was at ease because I was in the best hands when my father sat me up on a table to wrap my sprained ankle after a reckless fall in gymnastics. He lectured me while handing me crutches and pulling me back onto my feet. “You have to take it easy until it heals,” he said as he continued to demonstrate how to properly apply my own bandages, ice my ankle and safely walk. This occurrence was not something new to me. Growing up, I was often inspired by the struggles my father underwent as an Asian immigrant fighting to open his own primary care clinic in America. However this gave me the freedom to interact directly with patients to educated people on how to promote their health and the steps to take in order to recover and return to their original lifestyles. My father’s influence and tenacious work ethic instilled in me the dedication to provide the best care possible throughout all my experiences and cultivated my desire to become an occupational therapist.

If you were to walk around a college campus and randomly ask students what they were going to do with their lives you would most likely be answered with tears, confused looks, and some near breakdowns. Luckily for me I’ve always known that I’ve wanted to become an Occupational Therapist.

The entire profession of Occupational Therapy draws on the idea that occupation can be used to alter an individual 's mental and physical well-being. Occupational therapists use occupation as a tool to achieve this. Participation in occupation is believed to be a significant factor in providing a method for individuals to not only promote, but also maintain their health and well-being (Law, Steinwender and Leclair, 1998).

An occupational therapist is a very important job in everyday life. Not only for the people teaching and practicing it, but also the people they are healing. An occupational therapist treats injured and disabled patients. Most patients have something physically wrong with them, but others may have a mental illness. While occupational therapist mainly heal disabled patients they without a doubt are needed in everyday life. Occupational therapist help patients develop, recover, and improve the skills for everyday living and working.

Everyone has helped someone at least once in their life, but occupational therapist help people everyday. Occupational therapists are the ones to call when someone need help doing daily activities. For the longest time I knew that I liked helping people. I like watching the joyful reaction of people when they learn something new. After researching more about the work environment, the education needed, and the salary, I can see that his career is a good possibility for me.

According to Ridner et al. (2014), lymphedema is a chronic condition that causes permanent damage to the lymphatic system. It is incurable, but can be effectively managed by comprehensive complete decongestive therapy with the goal of decreasing the limb volume to normal or near normal (Lawenda, Mondry, & Johnstone, 2009; Ridner et al., 2014; Rockson, 2016). According to (Lawenda, Mondry, & Johnstone, 2009), the lack of effective early lymphedema management results in increased swelling, fibrotic skin changes, pain, paresthesia, and infections. Moreover, Lawenda et al. (2009) stated that early intervention decreases the progression of the disease. Therefore, it is critical to provide early lymphedema intervention to help to promote quality of life, and decrease functional disability, psychosocial deficits, and complications that may be life threatening among the clients who are impacted by lymphedema (Lawenda et al., 2009). Lymphedema is treated by a lymphedema specialist with physician orders to evaluate and treat lymphedema (Rockson, 2016).