Kick off Cottage Season Safely
The Victoria Day long weekend in Canada is known as the kick off to summer and the official beginning of cottage season. Whether you own, rent or visit friends and family with cottages make sure you do so safely, as cottages have dangers you may not need to think of at home. Make yourself familiar with some these safety tips care of the Federation of Ontario Cottager’s Associations (FOCA) and the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).
Heading to the cottage this long weekend? IBC and FOCA partner up to offer Top 10 Tips
O-Tip of the Week: Open Jars with Ease
Our O-Tip of the week series we will be providing valuable “OT-Approved Life Hacks” to provide you with simple and helpful solutions for living.
For the month of May, our O-Tip series will showcase some creative solutions using a commonly found household item – rubber bands.
Are you always struggling to open stubborn lids on jars? No need to struggle anymore! Simply wrap a thick elastic band around the lid and twist. No need to purchase fancy gadgets with these free helpful tools in your kitchen drawer.
Getting around: Transportation Made Easier
Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)
Have you ever wondered why the design of the objects we use and spaces around us are getting better and seem to relate to our bodies or the way we do things in a much more obvious way than ever before?
Barrier-Free Design allows the greatest majority of people equal access to the private and public spaces of our built environment. The aim is to minimize or eliminate physical, cognitive, and sensory barriers in our homes, businesses, and public spaces and even our streets.
Consider the front entrance of a building. Sidewalk curbs, uneven walkways, multiple stairs, heavy doors, and lack of handrails. All these can prevent access because they can create barriers for individuals.
Universal design methods such as curb cuts, level and slip-resistant walkway surfaces, properly designed ramps, accessible washrooms, automatic doors, lifts, and colour-contrasted handrails are all examples of ways to support increased and barrier-free access not just for folks with a physical disability but for all of us, including children, the elderly, parents with strollers and many others.
Occupational Therapy promotes a wide range of barrier-free design and universal design principles that have helped to make better buildings and spaces in our communities.
There is a greater awareness in society that our buildings and spaces must be more accessible to the greatest majority of people. There are far more products and methods for creating barrier-free environments today than ever before which can be great for finding the right product or design solution for an individual. On the other hand, the vast and ever-growing range of products and design solutions can also be confusing, making choosing the right product a difficult one. Occupational Therapists have the knowledge and experience to help facilitate the right approach by drawing on current research and best practices for creating barrier-free spaces.
Occupational Therapists provide helpful information and design advice to architects, designers, and contractors when it comes to creating barrier-free spaces inside homes, businesses, gardens, and even public spaces. And since there is a wide range of barriers that can contribute to preventing an individual from completing an activity such as reaching or bending, OTs help by determining what the barriers are for an individual and facilitating products and design strategies that can help surmount these barriers.
As OTs, we have the privilege to serve the needs of many people in the community and using our skills and practices to help people meet their individual needs of daily living and have productive and rewarding life experiences. For many, this may only be accomplished by implementing a barrier-free experience in their homes, businesses, and places they like to visit.
For example:
- For individuals with visual impairments, spaces should have adequate lighting, colour contrasting surfaces where appropriate, tactile cueing and signage as well as audible alarm systems. For individuals with auditory impairments, visual signage and alarm systems (for example, flashing lights) are necessary.
- For someone in a wheelchair, a barrier-free experience may include modifications to their workplace kitchens and washrooms. Fixtures such as light switches, sinks, paper towel dispensers, toilet paper dispensers and grab bars must be installed at a height that can be reached from a seated position.
Ultimately, the goal of barrier-free design is to promote equal access and participation for everyone. There have been many steps taken toward ensuring this type of design prevails in our communities. There are new laws supporting improved accessibility within Ontario as of January of 2015. Is your building up to code? Consulting an occupational therapist can help to ensure your space meets the new criteria.
Do You Listen to Music While You Work?
Music at work… a distraction or a helpful part of your working environment? The following article care of Inc Magazine discusses the science behind how music affects the brain and provides insight into the best times to play some tunes, and the circumstances where a quiet environment is more beneficial.
Inc Magazine: What Listening to Music at Work Does to Your Brain (It’s Pretty Amazing)
We want to hear from you… do you listen to music while you work? And… do you find it helpful or distracting?
O-Tip of the Week: A Non-Slip Solution Care of Rubber Bands
Our O-Tip of the week series we will be providing valuable “OT-Approved Life Hacks” to provide you with simple and helpful solutions for living.
For the month of May, our O-Tip of the Week series will showcase some creative solutions using a commonly found household item – rubber bands.
For someone who is lacking grip strength or for kids needing to use “glass” glasses wrap elastic bands around the glass to create a non-slip surface.
A Place Called Vertigo
Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)
I am not sure what the word “vertigo” refers to in U2’s hit song, but as someone living with vertigo, I can tell you it is not a place you want to be. Vertigo is highly unpleasant and can be caused by multiple factors including visual or auditory problems, or more commonly, head injury. I best describe my vertigo as my eyes and ears sending different messages to my brain regarding the position of my body in space. So, while my eyes tell me I am sitting still in a chair, my ears tell me I am on a boat in the middle of a hurricane. The result of these mixed messages is spinning, nausea, dizziness, problems walking, and ultimately dysfunction.
For me, my benign positional vertigo (BPV) lives in my right ear. As a result, I cannot lie on my right side, laterally flex my head to the right, lie flat with my neck extended, or look down into extreme flexion. While I can tolerate these movements momentarily, I cannot hold these positions for more than a few seconds otherwise I am sent into a spin that can last for days. I am fortunate to know my triggers and do my best to avoid them (no yoga for me). I have also learned, after living with this problem for two decades, how to catch my symptoms early to prevent a slight episode of dizziness from turning into days of bed rest.
When my clients experience vertigo and describe this to me, I can fully appreciate where they are coming from. The story is a book I too could write. But, like other “hidden” ailments, I get concerned when the medical community does not take this complaint seriously. This is especially true in my industry where insurers and their assessors often want “proof” of a health problem to support someone’s recovery. While I recognize that people can be dishonest, my experience is that people don’t make this stuff up. Health professionals need to give people the benefit of the doubt, including insurance situations. To understand, or better yet, support someone with any “invisible” problem like vertigo, health professionals need to be compassionate and should care enough to listen, to research and learn, and ultimately believe. Empathy, TRUST, and understanding will go a long way to support those that need it. I can only imagine how frustrating, devastating and angering it would be for someone to assume or opine that my “place called vertigo” is not a place at all: because, believe me, I live here.
previously posted August 2013
The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Depression
We have talked a lot on our blog about the benefits of regular physical activity for your physical, cognitive and mental health. Why? Because quite simply, other than laughter, physical activity is the best medicine! A study recently published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry looks at the relationship between regular exercise and depression. Learn more about this study here care of the New York Times.
The New York Times: Exercise May Help to Fend Off Depression
Organization O-Tip of the Week: Think Vertical to Maximize Space
Our O-Tip of the week series we will be providing valuable “OT-Approved Life Hacks” to provide you with simple and helpful solutions for living.
Did you know that being organized can help you to reduce stress? Spring is around the corner, and with it comes Spring Cleaning! Therefore, for the month of April, our O-Tip of the week series will share some of the best tips to help you get organized– because an organized space is a healthier space!
If your garage is anything like mine it is used for more than simply storing your vehicles. Sports equipment, garbage and recycling bins, lawnmowers, snowblowers and more share this space and without some strategic organization it can get quite crowded. The best solution for an organized garage is to take advantage of vertical space. Use wall shelves and peg boards for smaller items, and install hooks and shelves on the ceiling and walls to allow for increased space around the perimeter.
Making Groceries Easier – New Services Help People with All Abilities
Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)
The major grocery stores in Ontario have been increasingly focusing their efforts on offering free or low-cost online shopping and pick up or delivery for customers. Thought to be a result of Millennial overscheduling and impatience, this trend can provide life-changing services for persons with disabilities. Whether a disability is physical, cognitive, mental or behavioural, public places can be extremely stressful and difficult for some people to navigate. With online ordering and pick up, shoppers simply need to select items and pay online, arrange a pick-up time, park in a designated spot, call to state their arrival and wait until the purchases are loaded into their vehicle.
This can help to not only improve the ease of shopping but also varies the level of participation which can benefit some people. For example, instead of sending a caregiver to the store with a list, if someone can use a computer, they can order the items they want independently and just leave the caregiver to do the pick-up. No more problems with getting that wrong type of pasta sauce!
This is also actually more cost-effective, even considering the fees. For example, if a caregiver is $25 per hour, then having them do shopping may cost $25-$50 in their hourly fee alone. With the pick-up option, the fees may be minimal (or “free” depending on the size of the order) and the caregiver can just spend 10-15 minutes doing the pick-up (or unpacking items if they are delivered) versus taking an hour or more to shop.
Here is some information on the offerings by store that are now available in most major stores across Ontario and if not, will be soon:
Additional helpful services in major stores include the self-scan option. For example, some Walmart locations offer self-scan in which you grab a scanner at the entrance and as you’re shopping you scan the items before putting them in your cart (and it’s pretty simple to remove items yourself if you change your mind). When you are finished shopping head to the reserved self-scan checkout, scan the barcode on your scanner, and your whole order pops up – you pay and leave without having to wait in line or converse with a sales associate or cashier. This option can be very helpful for people who may have social anxiety, limited tolerances for standing, walking, bending or reaching, have little time to do other responsibilities, or who are otherwise unable to tolerate the checkout part of shopping.
Overall, the possibilities and benefits are positive, and these services are proving very useful for people of all abilities.