Hospital Corner

What Is Occupational Therapy (OT)? As an occupational therapist I get asked that question a lot. However, even I have a hard time defining our profession. I occasionally will give a tongue-in-cheek answer of: “It’s like physical therapy only different.” Or “Physical therapy teaches you how to walk to the shower and OT teaches you how to use it.” Glib answers aside the technical answer is occupational therapists help people across the lifespan participate in things they want and need to do through therapeutic use of everyday activities.

Dayton General Hospital has two occupational therapists on staff, Rebekah Gustin and Sonya Taylor. Gustin, who is Lymphoedema certified, has over 27 years of experience and works primarily with Acute and Swing Bed patients. She helps to restore function with basic tasks such as dressing and bathing, instructs on how to use dressing gadgets to reach certain areas of the body such as legs, feet, head, and others.

To keep a patient home safe and independent, she will perform a home evaluation, then make recommendations for equipment and modifications. If needed, Gustin will train the family or caregiver on the specifics to provide assistance to the patient. Upon release, the patient will have had a physical exercise routine to avoid decline in what progress they have made. She also works with outpatients who are struggling with swelling in their limbs.

Taylor has over 24 years of experience and works primarily with outpatients, ages 4 to over 94, with fine motor coordination and range of motion deficits, upper extremity strength, visual perceptual difficulties and cognitive insufficiencies. She also attends pain in the hand, wrist, or elbow from arthritis, after a surgery, injury or inflammatory episode.

In addition, Taylor is Tuni certified. Tuni is a tuning fork therapy which uses frequencies to create vibrations that help relax muscle, calm the nervous system and brain and reduce inflammation and pain.

Gustin and Taylor are looking forward to meeting your occupational therapy needs.