Occupational Therapy (OT)

How Does OT Help?

Occupational Therapists (OTs) and Occupational Therapy Assistants (COTAs) are specially trained and licensed clinicians who treat in a wide variety of healthcare settings ranging from pediatrics to geriatrics.

OTs and COTAs are able to help improve Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) such as bathing, grooming, and dressing. They also focus on the strengthening, endurance and range of motion of the upper body extremities and the usage of adaptive equipment.

What Can I Expect for OT Treatment?

If you think you are in need of Occupational Therapy, please reach out to the Therapy Department Manager. They will work with you to verify your insurance and set up an evaluation.

What is an Evaluation?

An evaluation is when the Occupational Therapist will review your medical history, assess your abilities to perform various tasks depending on the reason for evaluation, and work with you to create a treatment program tailored specifically to your needs.

What Happens Next?

The Occupational Therapy team will collaborate to carry out treatment sessions following your specific plan of care and adapt these plans on an ongoing basis to meet your specific OT needs!

The Beginning:

Occupational therapy evolved into the program we know and benefit from today in the early 1900s. In these days, it was considered a female only occupation.

In 1917, a group of three men and three women voted to create the National Occupational Therapy Association. This happened just three years prior to women being permitted to vote!

Occupational therapists played a pivotal role in the rehabilitation of U.S. soldiers returning from WWI. The U.S. military referred to therapists working with wooded WWI soldiers as reconstructive aides.

Eleanor Clarke Slagle is a founding member of the National Occupational Therapy Association and is known as the “mother of Occupational Therapy” due to her tireless work in patient care and in advocating for the profession. She was president of the AOTA from 1919-1920.