Weekly Mind Bender
What goes up but never comes down?
Your age.
Inspired
Take a look at the uplifting story of a 91 year-old man who spends his days giving back by knitting hats for the homeless.
Disability Sensitivity — How to Guide
Are you unsure how to interact with someone who has a disability? This blog from The Rick Hansen Foundation offers some handy do’s and don’ts that can help.
The Rick Hansen Foundation: The dos and don’ts of disability sensitivity
In Ontario, under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), organizations are required to train employees and volunteers on how to provide customer service to persons with disabilities. If your organization requires this training and is looking to enhance its customer service try our AODA Customer Service Training Program which delves deeper into how to interact and effectively service persons with disabilities.
Inspired
“Celebrate we will because life is short.”
Dave Matthews Band, Two Step
Helpful Tool for Managing Chronic Pain
Pain is a common occurrence following an injury, illness, or traumatic event like a motor vehicle accident. While pain does play an important role in alerting us to potential dangers, injury, or an impending problem, it can also become a significant barrier to function as it can often continue long after the dangerous situation resolves.
Chronic pain is difficult to treat and manage because of all the different factors that contribute to its intensity, frequency, and the many variables that can make it better or worse. Stress, depression, feelings of loss of control, pressures at work or home, and other mental or emotional factors affect pain perception.
Occupational Therapists often recommend keeping track of the intensity of your pain and the activities and/or variables which may have contributed. Use this printable pain diary to help you and your healthcare provider monitor and manage your chronic pain.
Learn more about how Occupational Therapists help provide solutions for people living with Chronic Pain in our post: Chronic Pain a Problem? Try OT.
For more helpful tools visit our Printable Resources page.
Inspired
Take Heart– OT’s Provide Solutions for Living with Heart Disease
February is Heart Month and while many of our blog posts will focus on prevention through good health habits, we want to also provide you with some tips for recovery.
Heart disease has a major impact on an individual’s quality of life. It can lead to discomfort or chronic pain, activity limitations, disability and unemployment. “An estimated 345,000 Canadians aged 35 to 64 reported living with heart disease. More than a third (36%) of these reported needing help with household tasks or personal care” (Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, 1999). Heart disease requires lifestyle changes to prevent progression of the disease, further cardiac events and activity restrictions.
An occupational therapist, in conjunction with other team members, will help you determine what activities you can safely perform and how to modify activities to decrease the amount of energy required. Learn more about the solutions an Occupational Therapist can provide in the following infographic.
Inspired
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
Ayn Rand
Laughter Therapy
