Diaries of an Occupational Therapist in aged care

Connecting with older generations from a young age

As a first-generation Australian, Amira grew up in a close-knit, multi-generational family who, having recently migrated from Lebanon, were trying to make their mark in a new country full of opportunity.

“It was my Grandmother who raised me while my parents were out at work,” says Amira. “I would hang out with her and her friends every day until I started kindergarten.”

Spending her childhood with her grandmother’s generation gave Amira a natural ease around older people, and yet when she qualified as an Occupational Therapist, she initially rejected the idea of working in aged care.

“I never thought I’d be any good at it,” Amira admits. “It’s a challenging space, and I wasn’t sure I had enough resilience. It was only later that I realised how special it is to work with this generation – I wish I had known sooner.”

“A privilege to serve humans in their twilight years”

After providing occupational therapy within a hospital and occupational rehabilitation setting, Amira made the difficult decision to step out of the working world so that she could focus on caring for her young daughter, who at the time had been diagnosed with a chronic illness.

After four years, however, she was back in the job market, needing to return to work temporarily for financial reasons.

“An opportunity arose at a local aged care home,” she remembers. “I was reluctant but took on the role, thinking I’d only stay for six weeks.”

Amira ended up staying for almost two years, falling in love with the job and knowing that aged care was where she’d spend the rest of her career.

What caused such a dramatic change in attitude?

“It was a gradual shift of perspective,” she explains. “Firstly, I discovered that aged care involves many aspects of occupational therapy that I’m most passionate about, such as pain management, equipment prescription, stroke rehabilitation, and manual handling processes.

“I also became aware that it is an immense privilege to serve humans in their twilight years. You could literally be the last person to hold their hand before they pass away – I began to realise that sharing these precious moments with people is a real honour.”

What’s it like working as an Occupational Therapist in home care?

Amira applied for an Occupational Therapist role with BaptistCare at home at the end of 2019. With continued caring requirements for her family, she needed a role that offered plenty of flexibility.

“BaptistCare bent over backwards to make it work for me,” she says. “They offered me the role and I haven’t looked back since.”

Amira says her days are highly varied, engaging, and incredibly rewarding.

Like most occupational therapists, she starts her day by working through referrals and reading up on each client’s situation before making initial contact.

Her day-to-day tasks might include: 

• Making calls to new clients or their Next Of Kin, and holding an initial discussion about their situation and needs
• Spending the day on the road, driving to clients’ homes and conducting in-person consultations
• Visiting homes and assessing clients’ day-to-day activities such as cooking a meal, going to the bathroom, or getting dressed
• Attending to paperwork, writing reports to government bodies and for other stakeholders who advocate for the client’s right to access equipment and other interventions.

“I’m always looking for opportunities where we can restore independence in the activities of day-to-day living, and where there might be gaps in safety, function, or emotional resilience,” says Amira.

This last point may come as a surprise to some, but Amira says that gauging her clients’ emotional resilience and attitude toward ageing is crucial when it comes to occupational therapy in home care.

“We’re trying to establish how much change we can push,” Amira explains. “In older age, this can be difficult to measure. I think there is a universal vulnerability that older people experience, which sometimes makes change for the older person difficult to cope with – it’s no reflection on character, it’s just part of being human.” 

“My job is to show them that we all come to a time in our life when we need the help of another human being.”

Building trust

In this sense, building a trusting relationship with her clients is often Amira’s first priority.

“It can be a challenge,” she says. “Clients are sometimes confused about what I do and think I’m there to tell them they must move into residential aged care. They are often quite anxious by the time I arrive.”

Amira says that she deals with this by practising empathy, humility, and where appropriate, humour to break the ice.

“I meet clients wherever they’re at emotionally in their ageing experience,” she says. “Sometimes making them laugh helps to soften a situation. Other times, it’s about simply acknowledging that somebody’s situation is difficult, whilst finding ways for them to live with meaning and purpose.”

Amira works hard to ensure her clients are active participants in developing their own goals – an approach that has been proven to get the best possible results.

“Occupational therapists are always wanting to choose positive and enabling language,” Amira explains. “This helps our clients to start shifting their thinking from ‘I can’t’, to, ‘I can’. Together we work on creating realistic, safe, and meaningful goals, so they can live their best possible life.”

“Empowerment looks a bit like coaching - once the client knows that they are in the driver’s seat, they start to develop trust, and that’s when we can really start to make positive changes.”