Liz Burton MOT/S

A Social Determinant of Health is what you do and live everyday that directly impacts your health. Many times, we are unaware of how our environment shapes our overall health, therefore, the conditions worsen or go unresolved. For example, in the TED Talk, a patient named Veronica was asked about her home situation and whether or not she had mold, insects, and/or water leaks. After admitting to all three issues, Dr. Manchanda was able to conclude her chronic allergies and migraines were a direct result from her living situation and environment. With the help of a community specialist, they were able to do what they could to help relieve the symptoms by altering from home. In return, her chronic symptoms improved and even helped with her children’s asthma, creating an improved overall mental state for the whole family as well. Social Determinants of Health play a huge role not only in our physical health, but our cognitive/mental health as well. If an individual is living in a dangero...

As future OT Practitioners, it is important for us to understand the need and benefits of assistive devices for our clients. Clients will be able to participate more independently in daily activities and safely manage locomotion with the use of a variety of devices and equipment. When choosing equipment for a client, it is important to note their age, limitations and strengths, and overall endurance when moving around. A cane is appropriate when the client needs minimal to no assistance. Different styles of canes offer different benefits and should be carefully considered beforehand. For example, standard canes have a single base of support, while a quad cane will have multiple contacts with the floor in order to add increased support and balance. If a client needs additional support, or may need to be non weight bearing on a single lower extremity, axillary crutches would be an appropriate choice. One of the biggest limitations to crutches, however, is age due to when an individual ...

The term “mobility” is defined as having controlled instability. The order in which we are able to restore confidence in mobility based on increasing activity demands is as follows: Bed mobility, mat transfers, wheelchair transfers, bed transfers, functional ambulation for ADL’s, toilet and tub transfers, car transfer, functional ambulation, and community mobility and driving. I do believe this is a logical order once you begin to examine what an individual must do, and is able to do, in order to perform certain tasks. For example, we wouldn’t want to begin working with a patient getting out of their car when they cannot even get out of their bed safely. I do believe I have seen this approach used in much of my job shadowing experience, specifically when the therapist is working on getting the client out of the bed and then safely to the bathroom. Many times, the therapist would work consistently on getting the patient out of bed safely, and if they were able to do so, move on to the...