Occupational Therapy Assessments and Aids for Elderly at Home

To continue to live independently at home as we age, homeowners may need to consider adapting their homes to suit their mobility needs as they get older. An Occupational Therapy home assessment is a great starting place. But what is it exactly that the O.T. is assessing?

Activities of daily living

An Occupational Therapist will look at your built environment and how that impacts on your Activities of daily living (ADLs). ADL’s are the basic activities that individuals typically perform on a daily basis in order to take care of themselves and manage their daily lives. These activities are essential for maintaining one’s health, hygiene, and independence. ADLs include the following:

1. Personal hygiene activities: Your ability to bathe, grooming, brush teeth, and toilet.
2. Dressing: This refers to the ability to choose appropriate clothing and put it on.
3. Feeding: This refers to the ability to feed oneself independently.
4. Mobility: This refers to the ability to move around and perform activities of daily living, such as getting in and out of bed, walking, and climbing stairs.
5. Communication: This refers to the ability to communicate with others effectively, such as speaking, writing, or using sign language.
6. Household management: This includes activities such as cooking, cleaning, putting groceries away and doing laundry.

The ability to perform these activities independently is an important indicator of an individual’s overall health and well-being. Sometimes your home may not make it easy for you to manage all of the ADL’s yourself, and you may require assistance or a home adaption. An example might be to install a disabled bathroom on the ground floor.

This is where an occupational therapist uses their clinical training to highlight, some of the issues that you maybe faced with in the future based on the your current level of mobility and function.

As a leading supplier of Nursing Home & Hospital Equipment for use at home, Enable Supplies is always on hand to explain and help Irish families to explore their options in terms of disability equipment for the bathroom, accessible kitchens, homecare beds, patient hoists etc.

We are committed to enhancing the quality of care and support for the elderly population. With over twenty years’ professional experience in providing comfort, dignity and independence, we are proud to offer our comprehensive range of expertise and equipment to facilitate your ability to continue to do your activities of daily living in peace at home.