Some changes might seem small, but they can have a big impact.
This week is Occupational Therapy Week, a national awareness campaign designed to celebrate and raise awareness of occupational therapy work, which runs until Sunday 10 November.
This year, the Royal College of Occupational Therapists has launched the Small Change, Big Impact campaign, which focuses on how even slight changes and interventions can make huge differences to people’s lives.
And the stories of people in Hull and across the UK will be shared on an interactive story wall. It includes Sandra’s story. Sandra worked full-time and ran a marathon in July, but then started to suffer unexplained neurological symptoms including seizures and weakness down her right side.
Vicky, an occupational therapist, visited Sandra to find she was only able to mobilise around the house by moving from one piece of furniture to another, living in fear of further falls. Vicky offered Sandra some equipment including a kitchen trolley, zimmer frame, raised toilet seat and frame, perching stools for the kitchen and bathroom and a wheelchair for getting out an about.
The small changes had a big impact for Sandra and her husband. She has started using the kitchen again and now is able to make herself a meal. She now feels less anxious about spending time on her own, knowing that using the equipment she can get to the toilet on her own safely while her husband is at work.
Sandra told Vicky that the equipment provided has really helped her to get a bit of her life back. She has even felt able to make a trip to the seaside with the wheelchair – a huge step forward for Sandra from being isolated at home in fear of falling.
Emma, an occupational therapy assistant, describes a day in the life of someone in role, below:
Alison Barker, Hull City Council’s director of adult social care said: “We are extremely proud of the contribution that our occupational therapy staff make towards helping people to live their lives as independently as possible, often achieving success against the odds.”
For more information, visit the Hull Connect to Support site.
