An occupational therapist is a health professional holding a state diploma at bac + 3 level whose mission is to analyze the needs and wishes of people with a loss of autonomy or with a disability. The occupational therapist's function is to offer these people, including seniors in particular, solutions in terms of prevention, rehabilitation, or even the layout of their home according to their abilities so that they can stay in their homes. and relearn the acts of daily life and perform them more easily on their own.
An occupational therapist is a health professional whose mission is to intervene with people who suffer from a loss of autonomy, following an illness or due to a disability, and who struggle to carry out acts of life on their own. daily. The occupational therapist works, in fact, with the elderly who encounter this type of difficulty, accentuated because of their advanced age.
An occupational therapist accompanies a person according to the wishes they express, their lifestyle or their environment. He intervenes on several levels after having made a very precise assessment of the real needs of the person concerned and by adapting to his wishes.
An occupational therapist thus first plays a role in prevention in very broad areas that are not limited to the physical abilities of the person, to allow him to remain autonomous as long as possible. This may involve, for example, accompanying and helping them to make their transition to retirement go as smoothly as possible, advising them on what to do to avoid falls at home, or even concerning technical aids. who can help him on a daily basis.
Then, an occupational therapist intervenes with seniors, in particular to help them with rehabilitation in order to allow them to continue to perform certain actions almost as before despite a loss of autonomy.
Rehabilitation is also part of the roles of the occupational therapist. This professional helps a person who, for example, has had a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) to perform actions that they can no longer do due to a disability due to this accident, but in a different way, by taking precisely into account his loss of autonomy.
An occupational therapist also helps people with a loss of autonomy, such as seniors with Alzheimer's disease, for example, to relearn how to perform activities that they used to enjoy. This professional is also involved in the choice of equipment necessary for the medical telemonitoring of a person with a loss of autonomy who lives alone at home.
Finally, an occupational therapist is also there to suggest certain arrangements in a senior's home so that they can stay there as long as possible.
Among the many aids that an occupational therapist can provide to seniors with a loss of autonomy, and in particular to those who still live at home, is the adaptation of their home to their disability or loss of autonomy in order to facilitate their life. on a daily basis, but also to secure it as much as possible. For this, this health professional provides human support and seeks to understand and satisfy the lifestyle habits of the people with whom he intervenes.
An occupational therapist generally works in synergy with other health professionals (doctors, physiotherapists, speech therapists, etc.) in order to propose the most suitable housing solutions for the person.
An occupational therapist can, for example, after taking stock of the needs and desires of the senior with whom he works, offer him the installation of specific equipment in his home. This may involve equipping the senior's home with handrails on the stairs to prevent falls, installing a stairlift to facilitate movement, an accessible shower instead of a bathtub or grab bars. in the bathroom to secure this piece of water prone to accidents, etc.
In fact, sometimes a few simple and inexpensive adjustments are enough for a senior with a loss of autonomy to regain a certain freedom and feel secure in carrying out the acts of daily life, including moving around safely at home. .
In addition to proposing solutions for the adaptation of housing, an occupational therapist can also give his opinion on the quotes of craftsmen requested for these arrangements.
