As World Occupational Therapy Day is observed…Healthy lifestyles promoted to reduce risk of NCDs

Oct 27, 2016 News

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There is no shying away from the fact that subscribing to an unhealthy diet coupled with the lack of exercise could have a very daunting impact on one’s health and can even lead to chronic Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs). NCDs could

also develop through the excessive use of alcohol and tobacco.
This notion was yesterday amplified by Ms. Amanda LaRose, who has been a key player in the delivery of physiotherapy for the past 14 years. She is employed by the Ministry of Public Health as a Rehabilitation Assistant. She is currently stationed at the Physiotherapy Department at the Palms Geriatric Home, Brickdam, Georgetown.
Part of LaRose’s work is to help persons regain their motor skills which they might have lost through illness or injury. Scores of out-patients are attended to at the Palms on a weekly basis and, according to LaRose, the majority of them are victims of stroke or have diabetes or might have had a heart attack in the past.
A small percentage of patients, LaRose disclosed, are also accident victims and require therapy to help them return to some form of normalcy.
LaRose described the work of a Rehab Assistant as an extremely important aspect of health care which even encompasses mental health and can transform a dependent person (due to illness or injury) to an independent state.
“We have a lot of working people who would like to go back to their jobs, housewives who would like to go back to their cooking and cleaning,” LaRose related. The Physiotherapy Department does not disappoint, as, according to La Rose, part of the process of restoring patients to their former state even includes helping them to return to their everyday activities. Patients, according to her, are sometimes re-taught how to cook certain dishes, how to walk, talk, and even attend to their own hygienic needs.
“We do cooking activities with them, we can re-train sensory skills…We can do ergonomics so that they can go into their work place or the home and adapt and adjust to that environment so that they can be independent and functional as possible,” LaRose explained.
But, according to her, there is no standard therapy process for all patients. Rather LaRose said that the assistance offered “is all about what the patients want to achieve out of therapy. We don’t impose what we can do…It is a patient-centered care we offer. They ask for what they want and we do it but we only go after realistic goals. So we guide the process and let them know what the expectations are because of their conditions,” said LaRose.

Several patients yesterday attested to the support they have been able to get from the Physiotherapy Department and insisted that they have progressed considerably over the months in their quest to regain independence.
But according to LaRose even after therapy would have played its role to restore the patients, they have a responsibility to take care of their health.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), NCDs including heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, diabetes and stroke are collectively responsible for almost 70 per cent of all deaths worldwide. It has also been established by WHO that NCDs have been driven by primarily four major risk factors: tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets.
LaRose said yesterday that while most of the patients that require therapy because of a stroke are aged, there are some in their 20s who seek therapy due to a stroke, as well. This, according to her, suggests that NCDs do not only manifest in elderly folks.
LaRose said that the Physiotherapy Department has been advocating for people, regardless of their age, to take their health seriously. While eating a balance diet and the right amounts of the six food groups is especially important, LaRose stressed that exercise as well as the other factors linked to NCDs cannot be overlooked.
Emphasising the importance of exercise, she noted, “If you are driving, park about one block away from where you are going, and walk…You should get at least half an hour of exercise at least three times per week.”
“Some people say ‘oh I’m too busy to exercise’ but that is a form of getting your circulation going. We all need to watch our pressure, our sugar level and cholesterol because doing these things can help to prevent a stroke or heart attack from occurring in the first place…exercise can help more than some people know,” explained LaRose.
Even as the Ministry of Public Health joins the rest of the world to commemorate World Occupational Therapy Day (WOTD) today, LaRose is appealing for persons to “exercise, try to eat right and avoid other things that could promote NCDs.” In fact this is a daily task undertaken by all Rehab Assistants and therapists attached to the Public Health Ministry. “We know that people may not be able to make changes overnight…We can’t ask people to stop smoking right away but gradually they can make a change,” said LaRose.
WOTD will be commemorated today under the theme “Making it together.”

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