main doing occupational therapy with nurse

Why Occupational Therapy Is a Vital Part of Home Care Services

The purpose of home care services is to make it possible for you to remain living in your own home. An important part of keeping your independence is occupational therapy that helps you be physically self-sufficient and able to provide basic care for yourself while you’re home. This can include normal activities that have become challenging because your health situation has changed or a new healthcare routine that you do for yourself.

Wellspring Home Health is a group of trained medical and physical-health professionals who care about you and come to your home to work with you one-on-one so you can regain your strength and learn safe, easy ways to be on your own when you’re aging or recovering from an injury or surgery, or a combination of factors.

We serve all types of people, including veterans and elders, who live in Anchorage and Wasilla, Alaska, and Tacoma, Washington. Our experienced, kind therapists provide elder care, nursing care, physical therapy, speech therapy, and much more.

We understand that even the strongest people may need a helping hand but don’t want to move to a retirement community or care facility. We always treat you with the respect and dignity you deserve, and we bring care to you so you can stay in the home you love.

Let’s take a look at how occupational therapy can help you be independent.

Want to talk to us about staying independent in your home? Contact us about our services.

What Is Occupational Therapy?

The term “occupational” refers to normal activities that “occupy” a person on a regular basis, and “therapy” refers to a treatment intended to remediate a health issue. So, occupational therapists do not simply perform activities for you, but rather, help you develop ways to perform them for yourself. By doing so, you are able to care for yourself and remain living independently.

This includes being able to do routine, daily tasks, like getting dressed, using the toilet, bathing, getting in and out of bed and chairs, using the kitchen, answering the door, managing your medication(s), and everything else that’s involved in being on your own.

Occupational therapy can also help you learn to use therapeutic or support devices on your own, such as getting in and out of a wheelchair, walking with braces, splints, and prosthetic or orthotic devices, and putting them on and taking them off.

Our Medical Occupational Therapists

There are often new realities that come with new medical conditions or simply getting older that you need to learn how to incorporate into your home life. Our skilled occupational therapists are certified medical professionals, such as registered nurses, who work in close coordination with your doctor to help you learn how to perform activities related to your health, including a wide range of activities you may need to do after surgery, such as performing wound care and changing bandages or managing a non-surgical medical condition, such as arthritis.

It’s important to not only recover from a condition or learn new ways to adapt to it but to also have confidence you will be okay living on your own in the future. Our nurses can also help you develop reliable ways to maintain your overall health and prevent further illness or injury. This includes learning how to use mobility devices and simple safety techniques to prevent falls and avoid hazards commonly found in the home.

Virtually all daily activities require you to be able to move, even just getting up and going to the bathroom. Our occupational therapists can help you develop or rehabilitate your motor skills, posture, balance, and strength through exercises. We will also help you learn how to use and move with devices that are new to you, such as prosthetics and orthotics. We can teach you how to put them on and take them off, clean and care for the devices, and get around safely and comfortably with them.

Wellspring Home Health offers you the knowledge and personal care of experienced nurses who have worked with many patients and who understand how important it is for you to remain in your home and on your own. Many of our nurses have extensive experience working in hospitals, emergency rooms, and ICUs with doctors.

Helping You Live Comfortably With Occupational Therapy Services

Our wonderful, caring professionals can come to your home and help you learn or re-learn many non-medical activities involved in living on your own.

When you’re experiencing a medical condition or even just getting older, routine activities can seem more difficult or confusing. Our patient, smiling non-medical occupational therapists can help you just get around the house by yourself, get ready for the day, make meals, sleep soundly at night, and do all the little things that make it possible for you to live in your own home.

We can help you learn safe ways to bathe or shower, shave and do your hair, cook and clean, and even ways to eat with your condition. Some medical conditions require a different way of preparing food or require specific foods, and we’ll help you organize your kitchen and set up an easy routine for meals. We can also help you learn new ways to use the toilet or perform bowel and bladder care. Our therapists understand that some things can seem embarrassing, but we’re here to help you live with dignity.

There are a lot of things every home requires, and together, we can develop safe, easy ways to clean your home, keep ordinary appliances working, charged up, and out of your way. And, of course, you need to leave your home occasionally, even if it’s just to run to the store or see your doctor, and we can help you learn how to do that safely, as well, from getting dressed to packaging medical equipment for travel to figuring out transportation.

Is Wellspring Home Health Right for You?

At Wellspring Home Health, our occupational therapists specialize in helping people like you live at home as safely and comfortably as possible by offering a wide range of unskilled and skilled home care services.

Whether you’ve recently suffered a stroke, are living with arthritis, or are recovering from a recent accident, we’ll come to your home and assist you in adjusting to your new situation by:  

•           Helping you evaluate the safety of your home and educating you on safety awareness

•           Identifying hazards and making adjustments to your surroundings to prevent injuries

•           Training you on how to use mobility assistive devices, such as walking sticks or crutches.

•           Developing personalized exercise programs to help increase your mobility and function

•           Providing motor skills rehabilitation so you can perform daily activities with ease

•           Fitting for prosthetics and helping you adjust to your new prothesis

•           Correcting posture issues through education and strengthening exercises

•           Assisting you with pain management during the rehabilitation process

•           Helping you regain your balance and stability through targeted practices and exercises

•           Developing strategies for helping you avoid falls as you live independently

Our goal is to make your life at home safer and easier. Your trust is very important to us, and our entire team takes great care to look after our clients like family, delivering friendly and reliable service with the highest standards of care.

Do you want to receive the care you deserve? Join our family.