News & Events

One of the many health professionals available to the elderly through home care package providers, an occupational therapist bases their practice on the link between health and human activity.

Primarily, they exist to maintain, restore, and enable social activities for the elderly in an autonomous, secure, and efficient manner.

Furthermore, they are able to prevent, reduce, or eliminate situations of disability by taking into the lifestyle of the elderly person in question.

Types of Occupational Therapists

There are two types of occupational therapists – those working in a center or hospital or those working with the elderly through a home care package provider.

The ones who work at a center or hospital usually take care of rehab, as well as advise and assess the needs for technical aids and home improvement with the goal of the patient returning home.

However, sometimes the elderly can show signs of neurological damage including Alzheimers and dementia. Stroke is also another common occurrence in those over the age of 65 which may require additional therapy to aid them when they return to home life again.

In this blog article, we will take a look at three advantages of occupational therapy for the elderly.

1. Improving Visual Impairments

One of the more common health problems among the elderly is impaired vision and often they have to deal with glaucoma and cataracts because of it.

Furthermore, often the wear and tear of the eyes mean that they will struggle to read things that will interfere with their everyday lives.

Wearing glasses will optimise their vision with occupational therapy with the objective being to enhance aspects of the elderly person’s autonomy and quality of life.

Visual improvements will almost certainly contribute to fewer accidents such as falls in the home environment.

home care package providers

2. Improves Strength and Helps Them Adapt to New Ways

There have been a number of studies conducted that prove the importance of physical exercise in the elderly in an effort to slow down the physiological aging process, improve exercise capacity and overall health despite age or disability.

Physical exercise such as strength building in the elderly is typically divided into four categories: balance & coordination, flexibility, aerobic exercises, and strength training.

This will give them the opportunity to learn how to cope with issues that they may have previously struggled with.

As they develop their strength again, they will be able to adapt to this by finding new ways of doing things and thus giving them their independence.

In saying that, change isn’t always easy with the elderly and this is why enlisting the services of a professional occupational therapist through home care package providers is incredibly important.

3. A Memory Boost

It is well documented that memory problems can occur at any age but perhaps more common amongst the elderly who are likely to encounter short-term memory issues as they age.

There are three types of memory that are usually affected most:

– Sensory memory – this type records an impression of sensory information captured by our senses
– Short-term memory – also known as operative memory, it’s the type that retains the information acquired in the environment but with a much-limited capacity. If the information isn’t kept, it can disappear in 45 seconds.
– Long-term memory – as the name suggests, this type of memory can store information permanently which presents an unlimited memory capacity.

An occupational therapist will assist the elderly person with becoming involved in tasks, games, and other activities that force them to use their mind on a regular basis and ultimately boost their memory.

Preserving their memory is vital for as long as possible and can even go as far as reducing the risk of developing early dementia.

These are just three of many advantages that engaging occupational therapy for the elderly sourced via a home care package provider. As you can no doubt tell through the three reasons we have shared with you, they are certainly worth engaging if you or your loved one needs help.

If you would like to find out more about how our Bayswater aged care home care packages can support you, please click here to leave an enquiry or call us on (03) 8720 1338.