![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Alzheimers-300x169.png\")
June is Alzheimer\u2019s and Brain awareness month and a perfect time to talk about why OT is a key member of the healthcare team treating patients with this disease.<\/p>\nJune is Alzheimer\u2019s and Brain awareness month and a perfect time to talk about why OT is a key member of the healthcare team treating patients with this disease.<\/p>\n
While I worked with all ages as an OT, one of my most rewarding experiences was assisting patients and caregivers managing Alzheimer\u2019s. OT\u2019s person-centered, holistic approach to patient care focuses on creating a supportive and safe environment for patients while maintaining as much independence as possible, for as long as possible.<\/p>\n
Occupational therapy works with patients in all stages of Alzheimer\u2019s disease with a focus on function, cognition, behaviors, as well as late-stage complications. The inclusion of OT enhances the quality of life for both the patient and their caregiver with interventions across each stage.<\/p>\n
ADL, IDAL, productivity and leisure training<\/strong> will focus on enhancing quality of life and maintaining independence. Interventions will vary by stage and could include visual clues such as labeling drawers for early-stage patients; progressing to task segmentation and step-by-step instructions with cues at mid-stage; with late-stage intervention including sensory stimulation.<\/p>\n Physical exercise and activities<\/strong> are focused on maintaining ROM, strength, and endurance with PROM training for caregivers as a late-stage intervention. Cognitive stimulation can be used throughout the progression of the disease to maintain function as long as possible.<\/p>\n Compensatory strategies<\/strong> are primarily used in the early stages of the disease to enhance memory and organization. Some activities in this stage can include the development of a memory notebook, life story notebook or life story box.<\/p>\n Fall risk and prevention strategies<\/strong> include not only fall prevention techniques but ways to safeguard against the risk of wandering.<\/p>\n Modifications<\/strong> to task and technique focus on maintaining independence and quality of life with recommendations for performance-based home modifications, adaptive equipment, or assistive technology. <\/p>\n Caregiver support and education<\/strong> increases appropriately as the disease progresses to include training in PROM and positioning strategies in late stage.<\/p>\n The Occupational Therapy Toolkit includes 4 comprehensive treatment guides for the occupational therapist that address each stage of this progressive disease as well as number of related treatment guides and patient education handouts.<\/p>\n All Alzheimer patients deserve to have OT on their side as they navigate their journey with this disease. <\/p>\n For more resources on Alzheimer\u2019s disease check out the \u201cLinks\u201d Tab on my website https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/links<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" June is Alzheimer\u2019s and Brain awareness month and a perfect time to talk about why OT is a key member of the healthcare team treating patients with this disease. While I worked with all ages as an OT, one of my most rewarding experiences was assisting patients and caregivers managing…<\/p>\n Read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dementia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Alzheimers.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7761"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7764,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7761\/revisions\/7764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}