Thinking of starting your own vegetable garden? Gardening is a great way to get outside and enjoy nature while reaping many health benefits. Growing your own food can also be beneficial due to: cost savings, the promotion of eco-friendly activities, allowing you to connect with nature, educational opportunities and many more! The following article by Readers Digest provides easy tips on how to start your own vegetable garden and reap the benefits your harvest will bring.
Daily Dose of Inspiration
Does OT Work? Absolutely!
I am not shy about loving my profession. I think occupational therapy is one of the most creative, compassionate, client-centered and “bang for your buck” health professions as we are trained to help people with a variety of disabilities (physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral) to function as effectively and independently as possible. While none of us will claim our profession is “rocket science”, I hope all of us have move passed thinking our knowledge is “common sense”. As a profession, I feel that we continue to be behind our peers in shouting our skills from the rooftops, and while we have been around for a really long time, I still get asked “oh, so you are a physio”?
I was thrilled to read a recent article in Healthcare Quarterly (Vol. 16 No. 1) on the value of OT. This article indicates that “occupational therapy interventions are cost-effective in treating or preventing injury and improving outcomes”, and clearly states that “occupational therapists are underused and not working to their full scope of practice” (page 69). The article further outlines that there are “clear, cost-effective opportunities for occupational therapists to use their expertise and full scope of practice in the areas of: case management, chronic disease management, injury prevention, caregiver education, intervening at the point of hospitalization or to reduce hospital stays, community or caregiver support to reduce re-hospitalization, rehabilitation and palliative care” (page 71). In the end, the article concludes that “there is a strong foundation of evidence indicating positive health outcomes in occupational therapy intervention, with good value from an economic perspective” (page 72).
Perhaps, with research and articles such as these, the systems that fund healthcare (public and private alike) can more fully understand why occupational therapists are a necessary part of the rehabilitation continuum and are a cost benefit, not just a cost. However, in the world of auto insurance, one of our current struggles is getting other members of our own profession to understand this, and to support occupational therapy treatment when an insurer disputes the need. I hope this article will help other OT’s to feel that evidence does exist to support our worth, and they will join the crusade to advocate for, and support, our profession as a valuable, contributing and essential service in the public and private sectors. Go OT!
Daily Dose of Inspiration
“Throw back the shoulders, let the heart sing, let the eyes flash, let the mind be lifted up, look upward and say to yourself… Nothing is impossible!”
Norman Vincent Peale
Weekly Mind Bender
What goes around the world but stays in a corner?
A stamp.
Daily Dose of Inspiration
“Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible. “
Cadet Maxim
Make The Most of Your Weekend
Are you weekends filled with countless errands and projects? Do you make time for fun activities? The following article from Readers Digest discusses how you can plan ahead to ensure you and your family get more out of your weekends and give ideas for easy ways to add some fun to your summer. The activities are fun, strengthen family relationships, and will help keep you and your family active and healthy.
Daily Dose of Inspiration
Want Feedback? Ask for it!
Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)
McMaster University’s Occupational Therapy program was very much grounded in the concept of feedback. While sometimes contrived, and definitely awkward, giving and receiving feedback is an essential skill in relationships, parenting, work and school.
Recently I was in one of my MBA classes and the professor circulated feedback forms to the class asking for our input on how the course was going. In my many years of university, I have never had a professor ask for feedback during the course. Usually the instructor evaluation forms are circulated at the end, when a) the feedback does not directly benefit the people that provide it (the class is over anyway), and b) the students never know if their feedback has value or elicits change.
In the case of this particular class, the professor, at the start of the following lecture, summarized the feedback he received. He commented on what people liked and did not like about the class so far and told us how he was going to adjust his sails to meet the needs of his audience. Brilliant.
Reflecting on this reminded me of the recent times when I have asked for feedback and benefited from the outcome. At home, we engaged in a Stop, Start, Continue exercise with our four daughters. We all had six pieces of paper with our own, and each other’s, names at the top. Our job was to comment on what we felt that we each needed to stop doing, start doing, and continue doing in our own mind, and then also for each other. Basically, we were giving and receiving feedback on our skills as mom, dad, daughter or sister. The result was amazing. The kids took the exercise seriously and we all learned more about ourselves through the eyes of the people closest to us. It was a valuable exercise for them and us, and something we will continue to do going forward.
At work, I also asked for feedback from colleagues, clients and customers. I circulated a questionnaire via email that allowed people to anonymously let me know how I was performing in my job. Then, I also engaged in a self-initiated 360 review that provided those closest to me the opportunity to highlight, from their perspective, my personal strengths and weaknesses.
Why is feedback so important to me? I am not as much interested in ensuring I am living up to the expectations of others, as I am interested in ensuring I am not naïve to my own faults. It is always easier to see the faults in others and yet how often do we really reflect on our own skills? I believe that the path to achieving my personal best involves understanding myself through my eyes and the eyes of those around me. So, if you want feedback, just ask for it! How is my blog by the way?
Daily Dose of Inspiration
“And I will sail my vessel, ’til the river runs dry. Like a bird upon the wind, these waters are my sky. I’ll never reach my destination, if I never try. So I will sail my vessel, ’til the river runs dry.”
Garth Brooks: “The River”