We put the OT in CommunOT

 Yes, I know there isn’t any OT in community…. well technically speaking there are actually 9 students on community block so there are OTs in community, but it’s actually a play on words, you know community… OT… CommunITY. CommunOT… never mind. You know what I mean.

So, what exactly is it about our profession that we seem to have a place everywhere? Are OTs the fairy dust of the health professional world? One OT for you (placed in a government hospital), one OT for you (placed in an old home,) one OT for you (placed in a venue for people with psychosocial disabilities) AND one OT for you (placed in a school.) And now we also want an OT in a primary healthcare clinic? Seems bizarre that our reach can extend so incredibly far, doesn’t it? How can one therapy be so versatile? The answer is rather simple. Every single little thing we do in our lives such as brushing our teeth, walking the dog, moving a chair out from the table, playing chess, watching TV, making food, EVERYTHING we do on a daily basis is termed as an occupation. Pair this definition with that of therapy, which is to remediate a health condition. Occupational therapy, in very basic terms, means to help people engage in occupations. So of course we have a place in a Primary health care clinic.

 Our role and scope actually becomes amplified as we need to use everything we have learnt, from physical to paediatrics, to geriatrics, to psychosocial, to vocational rehab, all of it will be used in a primary healthcare clinic. Most of the time, you will end up using more than one of these components in a single session. We look at food security, such as planting a vegetable garden. We look at accessibility, such as building stairs so the elderly can reach the vegetable garden, and the creche children can get into the creche. We look at skill development opportunities such as making of recycled toys for mothers. We look at stimulation, both physical and mental, such as painting a clinic play area so children can improve core strength while learning about colours, numbers and alphabet.

Another component not mentioned above is advocacy and health promotion. Advocacy in terms of stigmatised topics of conversation being demystified and health promotion in terms of literally everything - hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, joint protection principles, mental health, depression, anxiety, post-partum depression, developmental milestones, breastfeeding, bottle feeding, malnutrition, obesity, STIs, contraceptives, COVID 19, the list is endless. We educate the community to be able to help prevent things like teenage pregnancy and STI’s, to inform them about mental health and that we need to break the stigma of speaking out when we are struggling, to help new mothers know how to stimulate her child, what milestones to look out for and to make sure that she is coping with the added stress of becoming a mother.

We do this by making posters regarding theses topics and chatting to the people in the clinic line. But this does limit our reach quite significantly. It's not like we can go out to every house and do the same health promotion speech for every single household in the community… well we can but it would be incredibly time-consuming. How do we reach more of the community? Once again, a simple answer. Social media.



Social media has taken over the world. Unfortunately, we are often inundated with useless information regarding celebrities, what outfits are in fashion, propaganda around weight loss strategies and perpetually shaming our generation for not looking like perfect airbrushed celebrities. So why not use this platform for some good and post about the important things in life like physical and mental health? Childhood development? Nutrition? It's so easy to make a Facebook and Instagram page, and we can reach so much more of the population this way, especially the youth, who are glued to their phones. Why not flood social media with hashtags of #yourmentalhealthmatters and #don’ttenseupforhypertension and #STIsaren’tfly instead of the nonsense we see today? I found this TED talk done by a physician describing our obligation to post about what we know to be able to break down the boundaries and improve primary care https://youtu.be/bXk5cIvVqHg


But what about the less “publicised” social media such as newspapers and radio stations? Can’t we start putting out articles regarding these issues? Not everyone has internet connection or a cell phone, but I am yet to see a place that doesn’t receive a newspaper, so it seems like the perfect solution to reaching the masses. In terms of radio stations, we can easily send recordings to be played regarding the issues most seen in the community such as depression, anxiety and STIs, and we can even go live and chat about it in person. Then we can go even further into the dark ages and put up posters regarding these issues, hand out brochures and pamphlets, have an archive of different brochures regarding different health conditions to have at the ready for any patients seeking help in the Occupational therapy department and in the clinic.

The extensiveness of Occupational therapy has never been more emphasised as it has been on this block. The way in which we can affect not only a single person’s life, but a family and a community. It has been an incredibly eye-opening experience that challenged me on every level – mental, emotional and physical, but the OT that has come out in the end is also ready to face any challenge thrown her way. This block has highlighted my worth as a therapist as well as a person, and I will forever hold onto that. I might be leaving the community but I will take this experience and all that I have learnt with me into my final practical block and into the upcoming years.

You can take the OT out of the community, but you can never take the community out of the OT.

(I know you can't take out the OT if there isn’t any in the word in the first place, it's another play on words trying to explain how I’ve learnt so much and will miss this experience, because I’m going to be out of the community but the experience will always stay with me and… never mind… you know what I mean.)

#Community #OccupationalTherapy #bittersweetending #CommunOT

 

References

Obajimi, O. (2019). Best Practices for Social Media Marketing for Health Promotion | Engage Africa Foundation. Retrieved 2 October 2020, from http://www.engageafricafoundation.org/blog/view/best-practices-for-social-media-marketing-for-health-promotion

Sevilla, M. (2015). Medical Professionals and Social Media | Mike Sevilla | TEDxYoungstown. Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://youtu.be/bXk5cIvVqHg

Naidoo, D., Wyk, J., & Joubert, R. (2016). Exploring the occupational therapist’s role in primary health care: Listening to voices of stakeholders. Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1139/1819

PwC Healthcare Animation [gif]. (2014). Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://dribbble.com/shots/1566266-PwC-Healthcare-Animation-gif

Mental Health Corona GIF by INTO ACTION - Find & Share on GIPHY. (2020). Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://giphy.com/gifs/IntoAction-fwDYfOHIvFClrpPh63

Using Animated GIFs as an Essential Marketing Tool in 2016 – eclincher. (2020). Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://eclincher.com/using-animated-gifs-as-an-essential-marketing-tool-in-2016/

 

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