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With the oldest of the Baby Boomers - age 66 - dancing in the aisles last Thursday night to the music their generation has made immortal, Joseph F. Coughlin, PhD, declared that the era of the aging had begun in America.
"Aging is about life tomorrow," he told thousands of occupational therapy practitioners and educators gathered at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. "And this is a new generation of 'old.'"
Coughlin, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab, told the story of a woman of 119 who said she still enjoyed life for two reasons: "I have my health and I can do things." Those two goals are the vision of the boomers, and they expect to get there. "I believe your profession can make it happen," Coughlin said.
While their parents and grandparents aged "politiely," today's seniors intend to go on living, learning and playing for many years after they retire. With medicine and technology blossoming exponentially to help them, Coughlin believes that tomorrow's retirees will live peacefully with chronic illnesses that won't keep them from being active.
"You will be ill, but you won't be sick." he explained. In particular, retailers, not doctors, will be offering therapy and medical maintenance care even at home. And OTs will become their partners in the effort. They will be aided by electronic monitoring of just about every physical and emotional condition. Cars will tell their drivers when those drivers are getting tired, not responding well to traffic around them, etc.
And the continuing ability to drive will be paramount in the lives of older Americans. "Driving will be the glue that holds all of the big and little things together," Coughlin said. Research is going on right now at the AgeLab that will help older drivers of the future by teaching them today what it will feel like to be old. Visit http://www.seniorwomen.com/news/index.php/the-mit-agelab to learn about the AGNES project, a space-suit-like outfit that dims the sight, decreases balance, and does other little "tricks" to make its wearer feel much older.
The key to OT's future, Coughlin believes, will be found in three ongoing initiatives that will make the Centennial Vision a reality:
Keep people healthy now.
Build partnerships in retail and industry.
Re-define OT as crucial to longevity planning.
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Tonight AOTA and AOTF recognized standout leaders, educators and clinicians in its annual award ceremony.
AOTA Award Winners
AOTA Award of Merit
- Paula Kramer, PhD, OTR, FAOTA
Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award
- Glen Gillen, EdD, OTR, FAOTA
Lindy Boggs Award
- Pamela Sue Roberts, PhD, OTR/L, SCFES, CPHQ, FAOTA
Health Advocate Award
- Christopher M. Callahan, MD, FACP
- Jeffrey L. Tomlinson, OTR, CSW, FAOTA
Certificate of Appreciation
- Virginia and Roland Dykes
- David D. Gale, PhD, FASAHP
Cordelia Myers Writer's Award
- Elizabeth A. Barstow, MS, OTR/L, SCLV
Jeanette Bair Writer's Award
- Cynthia Lau, PhD, OTR/L, BCP
Special Interest Section Quarterly Writers Award
- Leonard N. Matheson, PhD, CRC, CVE
- Matthew B. Dodson, OTD, OTR/L
- Timothy J. Wolf, OTD, MSCI, OTR/L
Recognition of Achievement Award
- Coralie "Corky" Glantz, OT/L, BCG, FAOTA
- Nancy Z. Richmond, OTR/L, FAOTA
- Jodie K. Williams, OTR/L, MHA
Roster of Honor Award
- Jeanne M. Rehr, BA, COTA/L
AOTA Roster of Fellows
- Jeanine Beasley, EdD, OTR, CHT
- Salvador Bondoc, OTD, OTR/L, BCPR, CHT
- Gerry Conti, PhD, OTR/L
- Leslie Freeman Davidson, PhD, OTR/L
- Carole Dennis, ScD, OTR/L
- Gail Fisher, MPA, OTR/L
- Catherine Gardner, PhD, OT
- Kristine Haertl, PhD, OTR/L
- E. Adel Herge, OTD, OTR/L
- Amy Lamb, OTD, BS, OTR/L
- James Lenker, PhD, OTR/L
- Teresa A. May-Benson, ScD, OTR/L
- Nancy Vandewiele Milligan, PhD, OTR/L
- Janet M. Powell, PhD, OTR/L
- Tammy Richmond, MS, OTR/L
- Cynthia "Cyndy" Robinson, MS, OTR/L
- Laura Schluter Strickland, EdD, OTR/L, CLT
- Margaret Swarbrick, PhD, OTR
- Eve A. Taylor, PhD, OTR/L
- Debra Tupe, PhD, MPH, MS, OTR/L
- Jennifer L. Womack, MA, MS, OTR/L
AOTF Award Winners
Academy of Research
- Anita Bundy, ScD, OTR, FAOTA
- Sherrilene Classen, PhD, MPH, OTR/L, FAOTA
- Dorothy Farrar Edwards, PhD
- Annette Majnemer, PhD, OT(C), FCAOT
AOTF Award for Community Volunteerism
- Evelyn Jaffe, MPH, OTR/L, FAOTA
A. Jean Ayres Award
- Shelley E. Mulligan, PhD, OTR/L
- Grace Baranek, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA
AOTF Service Commendation
- Nancy Vesper Snyder, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA
Certificate of Appreciation
- Jane Case-Smith, EdD, OTR/L, FAOTA
AOTF Meritorious Service Award
- Melissa Oliver, MS, OTR/L
In addition, over 170 practitioners received AOTA Service Commendations for service to the association and the profession.
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OTs, through their interventions, enable their clients to
participate in meaningful daily occupations. But have you ever thought about
what your occupations are? In this evening's Eleanor Clarke Slagle lecture Karen Jacobs, Boston University educator and
former AOTA president, asked attendees to "embed promoting OT into your daily
occupations."
In her talk, titled "PromOTing Occupational Therapy through
Words, Images and Actions," Jacobs reviewed the profession's history of
promoting itself. When the national association was initially founded, after
all, it was called the Society for Promotion of Occupational Therapy. Jacobs'
examples ranged from AOTA-created promotional public services announcements by
entertainer Soupy Sales and former Miss America Bess Myerson back in the 1960s,
to a book created by the Canadian Occupational Therapy Association titled "You,
Me and My OT" that has sold over 4,000 copies to date.
Today OTs have more, and more widely accessible, tools to
promote themselves than ever before via social media outlets like Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. In her efforts to prepare for the Slagle, Jacobs
created a social-media fueled promotional campaign of her own, the OT Global Day
of Service, which took place on Feb. 25. After only two months of advertising,
mainly through social networking channels, more than 2,500 people participated
in the OTGDS, resulting in an estimated 10,000 people being exposed to
occupational therapy.
On a daily, personal level, Jacobs entreats therapists to
introduce themselves to people around them - the grocery store cashier, other
parents while waiting to pick a child up from school or practice, those sitting
next to you on trains or buses or planes - and explain that they are OTs, and
briefly communicate, perhaps through a brief anecdote of a clinical experience,
the value of OT and how it helps people participate in life to the fullest. Ask
your clients to share their OT success stories with friends and family. Make up
business cards that identify yourself as an OT, give a brief definition of the
profession that includes occupation, and then give out two to each person you
network with - one for them, and one to give to a friend.
Promoting the profession is critical for OT to continue to
grow and reach more and more people who may need OT services. But on an
individual level, practitioners can ask themselves a simple question: do you
love being an OT? If you do, then you have an obligation to spread the word
about what OT is and what it can do.
"We have a great profession, and I strive to share this with
people wherever I have the opportunity. This is a goal we as OT students and
practitioners all have," Jacobs concluded. "It is our responsibility to show
our love for our profession."
Do you have any simple tips for promoting OT to those around
you, either by traditional means like newspaper articles, through social media
sites like Facebook and YouTube, or by the very basic but powerful tool of word
of mouth? Share your ideas in the comments below.
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In a time when job security still seems like a fairy tale, OTs may have more reason than most to start believing again: occupational therapist was ranked no. 7 among the 10 best jobs in the country; 200 jobs were ranked. Released by CareerCast.com, a major national job-search site, the rankings were based on each profession's scores in five core areas: work environment, income, employment outlook, stress and physical demands.
It's rare to find an OT who doesn't love her job, so it's no surprise that the profession scored very high in work environment and low in stress. The score for physical demands was low as well. CareerCast listed the average OT salary as $72,110, which isn't far from what ADVANCE found as the national average - $71,506 - in our 2012 salary survey.
What may be surprising is that OT ranked quite high in employment outlook; only two other professions in the top ten -- dental hygienist and audiologist -- had higher hiring outlook scores.
According to CareerCast's explanation of its methodology for computing a score for job outlook, "The ranking system used to evaluate Outlook awards higher scores to jobs with promising futures." Three factors were considered in scoring: unemployment data, employment growth, and income growth potential. Employment growth, the most heavily weighted of the three factors, is based on the Department of Labor's forecast for employment growth through 2020.
Does this reflect your experience out there in the field? Are you seeing more jobs available, or are you short staffed at your facility?
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I remember a discussion in high school English class over word choice and definition, and how we sometimes say things that aren't exactly what we mean. One of the examples was sympathy vs. empathy. When you sympathize with a person, you feel for them, but you don't necessarily feel what they are going through. To empathize, however, means you understand that person's hardship and feel it yourself.
In colloquial speech its an oft-ignored distinction, but it turns out that empathy -- connecting with others who understand your situation -- can have a pretty significant impact in the health care arena.
In a recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers found that African American with diabetes patients significantly improved their glucose control when connected with a peer mentor.
There were three groups in the study: those who had a peer mentor, those who received traditional diabetes care with their physician, and those who were offered $200 if they could improve their glucose control. The $200 incentive only inspired minor improvements in controlling blood sugar. Those who received usual diabetes care didn't improve at all. For those in the mentoring group, not only did they improve their blood sugar control, but some still maintained their relationship with their mentors after the study ended.
According to the New York Times' Well blog, where I read about the study, the researchers are working on a more extensive study on patient mentoring that will also examine the health effects of mentoring on the mentors. It's good to see that researchers are rigorously examining these holistic approaches that clinicians have seen make major differences for their patients.
Want to read more about peer mentoring? Check out this article from ADVANCE's archives: http://occupational-therapy.advanceweb.com/Archives/Article-Archives/Peer-Mentoring.aspx
Does your facility offer any peer mentoring programs to patients? Tell us about them in the comments below!
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A great article in the New York Times this week details a great program at Children’s Hospital Boston. In partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, art instructors from the museum come to the hospital and run workshops with young patients. The article details a recent session where patients made Chinese lanterns while the instructor showed slides of Chinese and Japanese brush paintings from the museum’s Asian art collection. Parents of the participants told the Times that they strongly felt the programs helped their children’s recovery.
Earlier this week, at the 12th Annual Spring Meeting on Cardiovascular Nursing in Copenhagen, Denmark, researchers from University Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy, presented research indicating that stroke survivors who appreciate art - including music, painting and theater - have a significantly higher quality of life than those who do not.
According to a press release on the research, “Patients interested in art had better general health, found it easier to walk, and had more energy. They were also happier, less anxious or depressed, and felt calmer. They had better memory and were superior communicators (speaking with other people, understanding what people said, naming people and objects correctly).
Dr. Ercole Vellone, assistant professor in nursing science at the university and lead author of the research, said, “Stroke survivors who saw art as an integrated part of their former lifestyle, by expressing appreciation towards music, painting and theatre, showed better recovery skills than those who did not... The results suggest that art may make long term changes to the brain which help it recover when things go wrong.”
Perhaps one of the most compelling arguments for the value of art in healing comes in this video, “Can Art Be Medicine?”, created by Jason Schuler of Awakened Films for the Foundation for Art and Healing, a Brookline, MA-based non-profit geared toward raising awareness and providing programs that bridge art and medicine. The video features the stories of an Afghanistan war veteran who lost several fellow soldiers to improvised explosive devices, and a young woman who underwent a heart transplant at 16 years old. Both tell of the crucial role art played in their recoveries from these traumatic events.
Do you use any sort of art with your patients? What positive experiences have you had?
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Elections seem to be at the front of everyone's mind - Wednesday night the Republican candidates engaged in their 20th debate of the primary season, and "Super Tuesday" is less than two weeks away.
But there's one election, ending even sooner, that occupational therapy practitioners should keep on their radar. The American Occupational Therapy Association's annual elections are going on now, and voting closes on Feb. 28th at n11:59 p.m. EST.
This year, AOTA members can - and should - vote for candidates for President-elect, Vice President, two Director positions on the Board of Directors, Commission on Education Chairperson-elect and Ethics Commission Chairperson-elect. In addition, four chairs of Special Interest Sections are up for election, as well as several positions in the Assembly of Student Delegates.
The entire slate of candidates can be found at AOTA's website.
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Most of the focus on the upcoming edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has been on whether sensory processing disorder will be approved by the APA to appear as a diagnosis when the Fifth Edition of the manual is published. Revisions to it should be completed by the end of this year, and publication is planned for May 2013.
However, OTs and other health professionals working with children with developmental issues should also keep an eye on what is happening with the definition of autism in the new edition. The APA appointed an expert panel to review the disorder's definition in the DSM, and the preliminary analysis suggest that the new manual will offer a stricter definition of the condition.
What this means for people with autism - as well as their families, advocates, and the professionals who treat them - is that, likely, fewer people will now be diagnosed with the condition based on the new definition. If a child is not diagnosed, he or she would not qualify for insurance coverage for services that may benefit the child. Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, director of the Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine, told the New York Times that the new definition could end the autism surge. According to Dr. James Scully, Medical Director of the APA, the new definition will lead to more accurate diagnosis.
The expert panel is still at work. You can view the proposed changes to the definition here. According to the APA, there will be an additional public comment period on the new criteria for this and other diagnoses in the spring. For more information on the revision of the DSM, visit dsm5.org.
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We here at ADVANCE for OTs want to extend our warmest
holiday wishes to everyone in the OT community. And with 2012 just around the
corner, we've been working hard to bring you even more of the content you want.
December 31 is the very last day to take the 2012 OT Salary
Survey! Don't forget to respond now. Then, in the March 12 issue of ADVANCE, we'll
reveal our findings. What's the average OT salary? How much are OTs in your
state making? What are the most popular practice areas? We'll have it all for
you in just a few months!
We're also planning several more free webinars for next
year! January 26th we're happy to have Jim Mecham from OccuPro presenting "Bridging the Gap - Implementing Cash Based Injury
Prevention Services for Employers." And February 8, Dr. Rita Fleming-Castaldy
will reprise her webinar on helping OT students prepare for the NBCOT exam. She'll
follow up with another webinar geared toward COTA students taking the exam in
April. We'll have registration information for the webinars available in just a
few days.
Our "App of the Month" feature
has been our most popular addition to the website in 2011. We'll continue this
in the new year, with the first new app review available January 3. We'll also
keep bringing you other popular features including Patient Handouts, State
Spotlights, regular updates to the Student and New Grad Center and more!
Thanks for a great 2011, and we're
looking forward to making 2012 even better! If you have suggestions for
features you'd like to see on the OT ADVANCE website, please share them in the
comments below.
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Keeping elderly drivers safe on the roads has been a growing area of practice for occupational therapists. To draw even greater attention to the issue, AOTA and AARP have teamed up to create a week-long awareness effort designed to educate the elderly, their caregivers as well as health care providers.
The organizations have chosen a different theme for each day of the week:
- Monday, Dec. 5: Family Conversations
- Tuesday, Dec. 6: Screening/Evaluations
- Wednesday, Dec. 7: Driving Equipment/Adaptations
- Thursday, Dec. 8: Taking Changes in Stride
- Friday, Dec. 9: Life After Driving
On Monday, Dec. 5, at 4 p.m. EST, AARP will offer a free webinar titled, "Family Conversations with Older Drivers." Visit https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=368973&sessionid=1&key=9012996CD27B25832019CBE52BC32221&sourcepage=register to register.
AOTA's website offers a range of resources, including topics for older drivers and suggested activities for practitioners coordinated to each day's theme. Visit http://www.aota.org/Older-Driver/Awareness.aspx to find these and other resources.
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With the holidays just around the corner, it seems like
everyone's stress levels are already rising. There's so much to do in such a
short time, shopping and gatherings and travel to be fit in amid the
already-hectic daily routine. We spend more time with family and friends, many
of whom we don't frequently see, which can create additional, if not excessive,
emotional stress. Thanksgiving is less than a week away, but it's not too late
to take some proactive steps to keep stress in check. There are several
articles out there on the subject, so we've pulled some of the best tips together
here.
Be prepared: If there's a chance you'll have unexpected
visitors, keep supplies in stock for such an occasion - coffee, a bottle of
wine, cookies, or other goodies. Keep a generic gift or two on hand, in case
you are surprised by a gift from a coworker or cousin, for example. If you'll
feel pressure to give something in return, having such a gift on hand can
alleviate an acute moment of stress. A box of chocolates, a gift set from a
retail store, candles are a few suggestions. Prepare yourself emotionally as
well - if you know every time you see your sister-in-law she needles you about
still being single, plan your reaction in advance. Taking the ambush factor out
of these emotional assaults can often make them easier to handle.
Keep expectations in check: Don't swear that this has to be
the year you wow everyone with your holiday decorations, or that you'll finally
buy your father the perfect gift. Focus on the positive - seeing your cousin's
baby for the first time, or helping your sister host her first family dinner -
and on enjoying yourself, which includes being able to laugh when things don't
go as you hoped. The holidays are not
about perfectionism.
Treat yourself, too: The extra burden we take on at the
holidays is for our loved ones, but don't forget that you belong on that list.
Schedule a massage, take a bubble bath, visit a museum, set aside quiet time to
read by the fire - whatever will recharge your battery and drop your stress
levels. Take an entire day "off" from the holidays if you need to - it will be
worth it in the long run. Particularly reward yourself when you've made it
through a dreaded but unavoidable experience: the hospital employee holiday
party or a cookie swap with your spouse's family, for example.
Budget: Setting boundaries, both with your time and your
money, may be difficult, but you'll be glad when your checkbook balances and
your hair all remains on your head, where it belongs. Set an amount to spend on
each person on your gift list. You may think, "Oh, Aunt Sophie would love that
Hummel figurine," but if you've already spent your allotted $20 on your dear
aunt, then put the collectible back. The same goes for preventing
overscheduling. Don't promise to bring an elaborate, from-scratch stuffing to
Thanksgiving dinner at your in-laws' if you know your son has a football game
earlier that day and you won't have the time to cook. Offer to bring something
you can just buy - many grocery stores have extensive prepared-food selections -
and don't even let yourself feel guilty that you didn't take the time to cook.
Your loved ones will be happier to eat a store-bought pie and see you cheerful,
than have you suffer for the sake of homemade. Don't give up important parts of
your routine - regular trips to the gym, family sit-down dinners, sufficient
sleep - for the sake of less meaningful things.
Resources:
Ten holiday tips on gifting, entertaining and celebrating
without the stress. Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.
http://www.jsonline.com/sponsoredarticles/how-to/134081818.html
Tips to ease holiday stress. KXII News. http://www.kxii.com/news/headlines/Holiday_stress_plagues_Texomans_134013513.html?ref=513
Holiday Stress Relief: 10 Tips to Beat Stress this
Thanksgiving and Christmas. PRNewswire. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/holiday-stress-relief-10-tips-to-beat-stress-this-thanksgiving-and-christmas-from-grief-coach-aurora-winter-133871183.html
The Smarter Approach to Holiday Stress. The Huffington
Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-michaelis-phd/stress-free-holidays_b_1093362.html
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"Parents, don't get hung up on the labels."
This is Temple Grandin's advice to those raising children on the spectrum. And in this podcast presented by the Coffee Klatch, Grandin--along with her coauthors Diane Kennedy and Rebecca Banks--discusses "twice exceptional" children, or "2e" kids. The children who are a talented and gifted while also on the spectrum. The children who will someday become the "next Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, or Virginia Woolf." However, the fear is that these kids are getting lost among diagnostic labels.
The podcast is an opportunity to hear directly from Grandin and her coauthors as they examine the current DSM and how children are consequently falling through the cracks and/or becoming "stuck" as well as how to help 2e kids to strengthen and develop their gifts while supporting their deficits.
Listen here:
The Coffee Klatch is an online morning chat for parents raising children on the spectrum and special needs. Check out their calendar for upcoming podcasts:
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It's been nearly three years since ADVANCE's last salary survey, and in that time the country has suffered through a recession. Health care, in both the government and private sectors, has taken a hit. What has been the impact on occupational therapy?
To find out, we're taking a new survey. Our 2012 salary survey will ask your current salary as well as demographic information about you (how long you've been an OT, for example) and your job (what setting, what patient population you treat). We're also looking to assess one other factor of the OT employment landscape - is there a shortage of OTs and OTAs out there? Anecdotal evidence suggests some regions of the country, as well as some practice areas, have open OT and/or OTA jobs that employers are having a hard time filling.
We'll be conducting the survey through the end of this year and publishing the results in March 2012. When you submit your survey, you can also enter to win a gift certificate to the ADVANCE Healthcare Shop. We've given away one already and have four more to give away between now and December 31.
Click here to take the survey!
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Our popular blogger Devon Alley just wrapped up a three-part series on her blog, , about her family’s vacation. She wrote about some of the challenges of vacationing with an autistic child, as well as some of her successes: the change of environment, being around lots on new people, handling disappointment when the weather prevented beach and pool time, and the ocean as part of a sensory diet.
Click the links below to read all about Devon and her daughter's vacation experience!
Vacation Part One: Weathering the Storms
Vacation Part Two: The Gulfarium
Vacation Part Three: The Ocean is the Best Sensory Diet Ever
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How is it already the second week of October? Fall is definitely here! The holidays will be upon us all soon. This time of year can become quite hectic, so remember to take time for yourself. Take a break with our Functional Fun page on our site. There's a whole slew of games to play: picture puzzles, word searches, sudokus, cryptoquotes, acrostics, nonograms, crosswords, and word jumbles. Print them out about pass them around! Or stay online and attempt our interactive word scrambles.
Our newest acrostic celebrates the fall season. Give it a try here!