As professionals in the health care system, occupational therapists have a lot to offer their patients/clients.

OTs have the expertise and knowledge to:

• enhance safety and autonomy in your own home,
• educate you on how to recognize potential problems and suggest ways for continued participation in activities that are meaningful to you,
• increase a person's ability to engage in meaningful pursuits:
  • Example: OTs can enable a person to decide how their time and energy will be used so that he/she can enjoy engaging in meaningful activity each day,
• educate you on fall prevention,
• provide home evaluations and recommendations for architectural modifications if necessary,
• assist in the promotion of independence, prevent disability, and maintain wellness through the use of adaptive equipment, exercise, and assessment of safety for those living at home,
• retrain a person in dressing, grooming, homemaking, and other life skills during and after serious illness or injury (such as stroke, heart attack, head injury, hip fracture, etc.),
• work on remediation for cognitive/perceptual deficits that may have resulted from head/brain injury,
• enhance or compensate for low vision,
• instruct a person in exercises to improve strength, balance, orientation, and/or mobility,
• provide therapy for increasing a person's skills in community living, coping/stress management, and organization for success in work, school, or leisure for those whose lives are impaired by social or emotional problems,
• provide resources for products and services that are available to you,
• promote "aging in place."