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Showing posts from April, 2018

Inside the O'Briens

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Inside the O'Briens is a novel that gives an inside look at a family dealing with a diagnosis of Huntington's disease to Joe O'Brien. Joe is a husband to a loving wife Rosie, and a father of four children who are all around their twenties. During the first half of this book, the depth and impact of Joe O'Brien dealing with his diagnosis is addressed. Joe must deal with his changing role in the family, and his changing role as he begins to figure what he, as a veteran in the police force, will be sent to do with this diagnosis. This book really gives light to the psychological aspect of the diagnosis. As roles are changing and what his everyday will look like is changing, Joe goes through a range of emotions in dealing with the consequences of his disease. As the book progresses, it shows the impact of the diagnosis goes much wider than just Mr. O'Brien. His family must deal with the 50% chance that they may have acquired the disease. Some of them desire to get teste

Not a Hopeless Cause

Alex's story of his journey with ALS is indeed a moving one. It is incredible to see how rapid the deterioration of ALS occurs. This assignment originally caught my eye because of the fact that the cause of ALS disease is unknown and usually occurs very quickly leading to death. Diseases like these catch my attention because I believe that many times individuals with a disease that cause certain decline in the body get overlooked in a therapy setting due to the fact that regardless of the therapy that occurs, decline in the client will still happen. However, it is vitally important to remember that regardless of the deterioration that will occur in the individual, that individual is still a human and they are not hopeless. This can obviously be seen in Alex's case. Alex can be seen throughout the documentary interacting with his kids and his wife. Specifically theres is a segment within the documentary when Alex is playing "Hungry Hippos" with is son and has adapted t

Standing Up to Pee

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Retrieved From:  https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/80097349/s The Fundamentals of Caring is a movie that tells the story of a caregiver, Ben, providing for 18 year old Trevor, who has muscular dystrophy. In the beginning of the movie, Ben goes through a training process in order to become a caregiver. The movie also reveals that Ben has his own set of problems he is dealing with. I initially chose this movie because one of the reviews on the resource page stated that the movie revealed something real about the interaction between a caregiver and the individual receiving the care. I thought this to be relational because occupational therapist are caregivers, we literally teach the individual and people around the individual how to provide care. This movie revealed something raw about this relationship. Most would be intimidated by the language and dry humor associated with Trevor, however Ben did not back down. I think this movie shows the importance of building a relationship wit

Biomechanical Frame of Reference

The Biomechanical Frame of Reference (FOR) is a Frame of Reference in which physical impairments that limit occupational performance are focused on. It uses various means to achieve the desired occupational performance such as preventing deterioration and maintaining performance, restoring moments, and compensating or adapting for loss movements that are required for an occupational goal. This FoR can be used at any age. It is practiced when an individual has a physical disability or neurological disorder and can be used to accomplish a wide range of occupational activities. One thing an occupational therapist may assess when using the FOR is range of motion. The occupational therapist will see what the client has the ability to do prior to the treatment and the work to adapt or restore the movements in order to achieve an occupational task. The core of achieving this is that engaging in occupation or therapeutic activities will highly improve an underlying impairment. One important wo

Client Considerations

It is very interesting to consider all of the aspects within our healthcare system that go overlooked. One component that stands out to me is considering health literacy. Many times it is overlooked when a client walks into a doctors office or clinic on wether they have the ability to read or understand various aspects of their care. Today's lecture may made me consider these aspects. For example, when a client is unable to understand their newly mandated dietary restrictions, to find time and make it a priority to sit with that client and the dietician in order to give them practical ways to implement their new diet. Also another component of this is considering the forms that patients are required to fill out. Many times these forms are long and use language that the client is unfamiliar with. Not only could this result in misunderstanding on the client side, but it could also result in misinformation on the way that the client is assessed. Another aspect that I saw was important