Better Understanding My Role

As I was reading Chpt. 3 in our book this week - "The Aging Process" - I had an "aha" moment. Up until now I've not been 100% clear on exactly how some of our therapeutic interventions help the geriatric patient. For instance, I have thought on more than one occasion, why would we have to teach an elderly lady how to make a sandwich or heat up a bowl of soup when she's been cooking her whole life? Just because she broke her hip doesn't mean she's forgotten every skill she ever had. I totally understood teaching hip precautions and use of AE like a reacher but was a little befuddled on how making a sandwich tied into their therapy. This chapter allowed me to realize that the geriatric patient is not only dealing with the injury/illness at-hand (ex. broken hip) but they are functioning within a body that is not the body they once had and does not perform the same way. Where a patient may remember exactly how to make a sandwich, she may be using hands that don't move the same or have the same sensation. She may have a heart and lungs that don't allow her to stand as long as she once could. And on top of that, her hip is broken! I always knew that aging meant "slowing down" but the way this chapter broke down all of the physical changes that take place in the aging body, it helped me to make some of the subtle connections that were lacking in my own understanding of my future role as an OTA in the lives of the elderly. I'm certain it's hard to face having to perform tasks that were once so simple in a new and modified way than the way you've done it your whole life. I think it's important for us to instill in our geriatric patients the mindset that regardless of how you do something, the fact that you can still get the job done is what matters most. Hopefully we can foster a sense of pride in maintained achievement where there would otherwise be a sadness for lost function.