Group items tagged

CarFit is a community based program that sponsors events (as a collaborative effort between AOTA, AAA, and AARP) with the purpose of inspecting the older driver in their own vehicle. "trained technicians and/or health professionals work with each participant to ensure they "fit" their vehicle properly for maximum comfort and safety". It takes about 20 mins after which recommendations for adjustments and adaptations are provided. The website provides FAQs and videos with a lot of information pertaining to the older driver and driver safety. Those of you interested in driving rehab may be interested in participating in an event such as this as a COTA in the future.

The Job Accommodation Network put this information together because the number of workers over 65 is going to increase dramatically as the baby boomers age. The benefits for hiring an older worker are listed as well as the laws protecting workers. This is a nice resource for those older workers to know what rights they have and what accommodations are even available. Some accommodations cover ADLs, weakness or fatigue, hearing limitations, vision limitations, psychological issues, to name a few. I thought it was really helpful that a few situations were presented with possible solutions. Also, for the consumer, is a link to products for accommodation options.

This is very interesting research that has been done on studying how many older adults using technology. Statistically 68% of adults age 75 and older are using internet.Well educated and financially stable seniors adapt internet faster that those with lower education and income. Seniors that not using internet find that they are missing a lot of valuable information. It finds that 35% of adult Internet users now have a profile on at least one social networking site.

Who would have thought a National Council on Aging! There are all kinds of resource linked to this sight. I can see how this could be a great resource for those who are aging or caring for those who are. If you scroll down to the section on "I want to stay healthy" you can click on a list of ways to "restart living." This section helps those who may need to re-evaluate their life and provides direction to encourage them to recognize that they still have something to live for

This is a great site for the older adult or caregiver to find numerous resources. From money management, transportation, job searches, fall preventions and much more. I know I will refer to it in my future practices and thought I would share.

Tips from OT practitioners helping families talk to parents and help older adults stay in their homes.

As we all are getting older and our parts are showing wear and tear, there is hope!

This document discusses the risks of falls in the older population and why prevention is so important. It goes on to explain how to develop a community based fall prevention program and the necessary components such as education, exercise, medication management, home assessment and home safety. Great resource with a lot of information about fall prevention.

Background: in older ambulatory persons, exercise strategies that are expected to generate beneficial muscle adaptations with low cardiopulmonary demands are needed. Objective: we hypothesised that eccentric resistance exercise would be less demanding on the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems than bouts of concentric resistance exercise.

informative article…nice

This article has some insights about gay/bi/trans people and aging that many of us may not have thought about. Two that particularly stood out for me were the likelihood that LGBT elders may not have family to care for them and the invisibility of older LGBT people. In working with LGBT older clients, we should be aware of and open to the different experiences they may be having (and certainly will have gone through in their lives). This article was originally written on The Huffington Post by Robert Espinoza, the Seniored------ Director of Public Policy and Communications of Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE).

This is a tip sheet I discovered on the AOTA website.  It provides very useful tips for helping your older parent remain at home and age in place safely, as well as ways to approach the topic with them.  I really loved the idea of presenting home modifications as gifts. This tip sheet is of particular interest to me as my mother slowly descends into the world of Alzheimer's disease.

The National Association of Home Builders offers information on creating a safe, accessible home for those people wishing to age in place. As people get older many find it important to be in familiar surroundings. Included are questions the home owner should ask like what things are needed in the home in order to age safely. There is a checklist provided on how to choose a remodeler. Additional questions are included that the homeowner should consider asking in order to get exactly what they need. There are Certified Aging-in-Place specialists that are trained in this specific area.

This is a slide presentation by AgrAbility which does a little bit of teaching about ergonomics and also shows lots of examples of adapted garden tools. I don't garden, but I found this presentation interesting because a lot of older people I know garden, and I enjoy eating their produce! Grips, handle lengths, lightweight materials and the like are described and suggested, either to purchase or make yourself. There's also information about gardening with arthritis and general safety precautions.

I don't know about the rest of you but I have trouble coming up with fun and purposeful activities for older adults. I came across this webpage that has ideas on activities for dressing, activities for cancer patients, arthritis patients, stroke victims, and more. Some of the "toolkit" you have to pay for but a lot of the handouts for home exercises are free and fairly simply to understand. I feel like there is something for almost every topic we have talked about his semester.

This semester we had a discussion about older adults and how to help them prevent fells as they age in place. This website gives a detailed list and tips you want to remember to help an older adult prevent falls so that they may age in place safely.

Here is a website that describes the research that is being done to help older drivers continue to drive in a safe manner. We all know that not being able to drive can limit our independence but can also diminish our quality of life.

What do you all think of it?

This relates to Unit 2 (the aging adult). I was talking with my grandmother and she made a statement, "it's hard to age gracefully". So, I went searching and I came across 10 tips on how to age gracefully. Most of them should be common sense and we've talked about them in class. Maybe we could give these tips to our older clients?

This CDC site lists several exercise programs that are geared toward older adults and fall prevention. Click on one of the links and you will get an overview of the study that the exercise program was used in and all the ones I have looked at so far have downloads in pdf form of exercises.