Recently, I had some e-mail interaction with someone I know. I was
explaining some things that are unique about OT and about my company.
Here's a brief excerpt of what I typed:
==============================================================
The fact that I'm an OT is unique. As far as I know, I'm the ONLY
therapy provider in my area offering only OT services. There are a
couple of other OT-owner therapy companies, but they offer PT and OT.
The profession of OT is in itself a story. Even though OT is older
than the profession of PT, we are MUCH less known. OT is unique
because of it's focus on patient's occupations. Occupation are not
just paid employment, they are the "things" that we do to carry out
our lives. Things such as walking to bathroom and using it, brushing
our teeth, driving a car, cooking and eating. The list of occupations
is endless. Generally, the medical community sees people as diseases
or infirmities. As an OT, I see people who want to get back to living
their lives. I address this issue by trying to remediate underlying
physical/mental problems, next trying to adapt the routines of daily
living and finally adapting the environment.
==============================================================
My "friend" wrote back:
**************************************************************
Ron, . I think you did a pretty good job of explaining why your
company is unique. For my benefit, you might give me a general
explanation of the basic differences in OT and PT ... I think there
are quite a few people who don't understand (me included). For
example, I assume a person in an assisted living facility is not
working ... so why would an OT deal with their therapy?
**************************************************************
What strikes me about the reply is that despite my original message
(which granted may not have been fully read) the reply message raises
one of OT's biggest problems! "a person is not working so why would OT
deal with their therapy".
When I talked with Rob Black (Press Officer at AOTA), I stressed the
need for AOTA to address the disparity between OT's definition of
occupation and the world at large's definition. Seems that that above
message highlights this need!
Thanks,
Ron
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