More support for occupation

The title link goes to a story by the Washington Post about creative stimulation helping geriatric clients stay healthier, take fewer medications and improve their quality of life. It is one of those "common sense" things that we are taught in OT school, but I love to see people outside the profession actually acknowledging the benefits of occupation, even if they don't word it in those terms. I had a hard time recently getting a middle aged woman to understand WHY she should continue to let her mother in law participate in I/ADLs when she would need to be supervised and might not be able to do the whole task. This article seems to be more in reference to activities at a nursing home or adult day care, but it is a principle that we use in practice and has been well validated (SEE: Lifestyle Redesign / USC Well Elderly Study). I know from experience that it can be hard to find funding for OTs to work in an adult day care, and you certainly don't want to be only seen as an activity planner, but occupation can be very beneficial to the participants. There is a thread on the AOTA phys-dys SIS listserv right now running about occupation based tx vs. OTs being UE specialists. Hopefully since my SNF half of my job started slowing down this week, I'll be able to have clients doing some more involved, occupation based things instead of some of the more boring and rote things that seem to happen on a busy day.