Running, jumping, walking, talking, driving and thriving in your community can be interrupted by diseases, accidents or aging. Physiotherapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT) and speech language pathology (SLP) are all forms of rehabilitative therapies that can aid individuals regaining their ability and capacity to function.
On Tuesday, November 5th from 12 – 1 PM, three professionals shared insight into their respective professions. For those of you unfamiliar with these professions, some of the things they do include:
Physiotherapists help people regain functioning through education, therapeutic exercises, and functional ability testing
Occupational Therapists help people use equipment to make life easier and adapt their physical environmental to work better for them
Speech Language Pathologist help diagnose, assess and treat any disorders involved with communication, language and swallowing
PT, OT & SLP in Rural Regions
Rural and remote areas in Canada have different challenges and opportunities in delivering healthcare in their areas. All three speakers described their experience in delivering healthcare in the lecture,
There are close connections that can be formed working in small rural communities. Dagny Kane Haas is a physiotherapist based in the small town of Goderich, ON. She describes working with the team in a private clinic. She works closely alongside the local hospital and family health team to provide services.
Kathleen Gahagan, occupational therapist, has a wide radius of service working as an independent practitioner. There is a lot of driving that comes with delivering healthcare services in rural areas. Furthermore, there is a wide scope of reasons people seek the help of an occupational therapist. It includes everything from attending a doctor’s office to helping a patient set up their home for success.
The further north you travel, the more challenges there are with maintaining healthcare services. Speech language pathologist, Lauren Somers travels to many northern and indigenous services to provide care. She spoke about her difficulties in providing consistent care. She treats everyone from 2-year-olds to 99-year-olds and everything from speaking to writing!
Providing Education on OT, PT & SLP
All of the speakers describe their role in providing patients with good evidence-based healthcare information.
As Kathleen, OT, remarks:
If people are provided with accurate and evidence-based health information, they will have a better idea of how to advocate for themselves within the health care system. In this way, better information can result in better health outcomes.
Health education also can help build a knowledge base in the general population so that people are better able to separate legitimate health advice from pseudoscientific claims.
To watch this lecture in full, you can watch the video below:
About Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health
Founded in 2008 in the community of Seaforth, ON, Gateway CERH is a not-for-profit rural health research organization run by a community-based volunteer board of directors. Gateway CERH's main mission is to better the health and quality of life of rural residents through research, education and communication. Learn more on the Gateway CERH website at: https://www.gatewayruralhealth.ca/ and follow on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube
A brief disclaimer: the views expressed in these lectures may not necessarily reflect Gateway CERH’s views or opinions, but we believe in providing a platform for a range of perspectives and thoughtful discussion.
Gateway CERH has a full library of lectures and information about the upcoming presentation that can be found on our website: https://www.gatewayruralhealth.ca/lectureseries
Or watch all past lecture online on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GatewayCERH/videos
Commentaires