April is Occupational Therapy Month!
By: Jennifer Heiligman, PT, MPT
It’s time to celebrate our colleagues! The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) has designated April Occupational Therapy Month. This is the time to recognize the hard work and dedication of occupational therapists to create fuller lives for their patients and their families.
There are more than 230,000 Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants and Occupational Therapy students in the U.S. The American Occupational Therapy Association was established in 1917 to represent the interest and concerns of these professionals.
As indicated on AOTA.org, the AOTA’s Vision 2025 for occupational therapy “is as an inclusive profession, occupational therapy maximizes health, well-being, and quality of life for all people, populations, and communities through effective solutions that facilitate participation in everyday living.” OTs play a significant role as independent therapists in the care of their clients in addition to being an integral part of the rehabilitation therapy team.
Educating the community about the profession of occupational therapy and the important role Occupational Therapists play is a great way to help celebrate OT month. Here’s a couple ideas to help you accomplish this.
Post Information on Your Website
Write a blog for your website explaining the profession. List out the different conditions OTs treat and the different settings they work in. For example, recommending home modifications to those who have a disability in order to improve safety and functional ability, assessing functional cognition, working with children with an autism spectrum diagnosis or other developmental disability to help them participate fully in school and other environments, complete driving assessments and driving rehabilitation for older adults or those who have suffered an injury and help people regain skills necessary to return to their daily activities which they may have lost secondary to injury or illness.
With their permission, you could also spotlight one of your patient’s road to recovery and how OT helped them. Along the same lines, highlight one of your occupational therapists. These are great ways to promote OT month along with promoting the fantastic treatment available at your practice.
Social Media Posts
As for your social media posts, you can post facts about OT throughout the month. Take pictures of your Occupational Therapists hard at work in the clinic or other environment where they treat patients. Be sure to include #OTMonth to allow users to search and follow posts related to this topic.
The AOTA has free OT graphics that are available for download here. These can easily be added to your website blogs and social media posts.
Get Cool Swag
Everyone likes free stuff. You can help promote OT month by giving away some cool swag to your patients, staff and community. Think reusable tote bags, pens, water bottles or coffee mugs. You could also order t-shirts for your staff and pick a day for everyone to wear the shirt to work. Check out this site for swag options and ideas.
April is OT Month. Take some time this month to promote this great profession. Occupational therapists help people live life to the fullest. They teach their clients how to live better with a disability, injury or illness. By educating the community regarding the value of these services it will help increase the demand for and utilization of occupational therapy services, in turn improving the quality of life for many.OptimisPT has very robust content available for occupational therapy. If you would like to take a closer look Schedule a Demo.
