Happy Occupational Therapy and Oral Cancer Awareness Month!

Happy Occupational Therapy and Oral Cancer Awareness Month!

Up until now I have been pretty calm and logical about all of this. I have done my part personally and professionally to protect myself, my loved ones, and my communities. But seeing people around me continue to sabotage my efforts due to their own selfishness and ignorance has become overwhelming and infuriating. So for my own mental health, I decided this was a good time for a large dose of knowledge and reality since most of the world should be sitting at home looking for ways to fill the days. So here you go, feel free to indulge me and read away...

Typically April is a month of celebration for me! Being Occupational Therapy Month, it’s a chance for us to celebrate each other, be celebrated by our partner disciplines, and educate the world on what we can help our patients to accomplish no matter what the circumstances. April is also Oral Cancer Awareness Month which is a chance for me to celebrate thriving after surviving such a horrendous disease. Because of our current healthcare climate, this year is less of a celebration and more of a time of reflection for me on where we came from as a discipline and where I fit in this crisis as both an occupational therapist and a cancer survivor.

As most of you have seen all over social media, being in healthcare during a pandemic is overwhelming. None of us were prepared for this level of illness, and all of us are afraid. There is a human drive for self preservation, making me want to make the choice to stay home and stay safe from the chaos and unknown more than anything. However, there is also a sense of responsibility to fulfill the commitment I made as a professional to serve to the best of my ability during a time of need. Add in the complexity that I am a patient myself and things become very challenging. I feel good, I have the unique ability to empathize with the loss my patients experience which usually enhances their own recovery journey, and I am more than capable, but I am also compromised with my history of aspiration pneumonia which could potentially put me in that “at risk” category. All of that means I will show up where and when I am needed, but it also means that I need to be diligent to protect myself. I am not immunocompromised, and I am not a cancer patient. If we told every healthcare worker with any preexisting medical history to stay home, there would be very few left to help save the world. We live and work everyday in settings that require self sacrifice and ultimately placing patient needs over ourselves, so it’s not in our nature to sit back and watch as the world crumbles around us.

I have gotten and seen questions about why occupational therapy is essential right now. So that is something, especially this month, that I feel the public should know. Our profession was brought into the forefront of the world during times of great challenges that caused high numbers of the population to develop disabilities, such as world war 1, polio and tuberculosis epidemics, mental health crises, and the industrial revolution resulting in poor work conditions and traumatic injuries. Occupational therapists stepped in to help those patients heal and adapt to a new way of living. We still do that today, just on a much larger scale, treating patients from birth through the entire lifespan continuum, with the goal of maintaining or achieving independence in the daily tasks that are vital or meaningful to them, such as brushing your teeth, driving a car, holding your child, working at your favorite job, writing your name, shopping for groceries, taking a shower, and so on. The list doesn’t end. We are trained to break down a task, any task, based on the physical, social, psychological and cognitive skills required to perform it, and help our clients succeed at that task, regardless of the roadblocks in place. It’s the most incredible and rewarding career I could have hoped for, allows me to witness amazing accomplishments and inspires me everyday to think outside the box, but, it is also now putting my life at risk every day. And the personal question I have to continue to reflection on is, is it worth it?

Just because there is a pandemic, doesn’t mean the rest of the world will stop. People will still have car accidents. Babies will still be born too early. Children will still have autism and learning disabilities. Grandmas and grandpas will still fall and break hips or hit their heads. People will still have heart attacks and strokes, and get diagnosed with cancer. Dementia will still be a reality everyday for many families. And when any and all of those things happen, we need to be there. To help your dad recover the use of his hand after his stroke so he can hug you with both arms. To help your son learn how to sit still long enough to read his favorite book with you or understand how to cope with a change in valued and necessary routines. To help your wife build up her endurance to go back to work after a battle with cancer. To help your mom recognize you again and figure out what lipstick is for after her brain injury. To help your grandma remember where her bathroom is on a daily basis or learn to bathe herself again. None of this can go on hold, and if it was your loved one, you wouldn’t ever want it to regardless of what was happening in the world.

In addition to real life moving forward, we also have to consider all the new patients that will come into our lives. COVID-19 is ravaging our communities and the people that survive hospitalization will be weak and physically broken. And their families are not able to be there to support them.

Someone needs to be there to remind them what they are fighting for. Someone needs to be there to make sure they can wipe themself after toileting, put on their own socks or safely get out of bed without passing out when they are off that ventilator so they they can go back home to you. Those things don’t just happen, there are people like me that give them the tools and time they need to succeed at living after such an illness. What’s the sense in saving a life if there is no quality of life left to live? That is what we do, we give the quality back after the world has tried to strip it away. If that isn’t essential, then I don’t know what is.

So, for the love of all things holy, stay home if your life allows it. Wash your hands. Don’t touch things at the store that you don’t have to. Wipe off the nozzle at the gas tank. Stop playing basketball with your buddies. Postpone your family Easter egg hunt. Is it a sacrifice? Sure. But that is your job right now and the best way you can contribute to people like me who are just trying to get through each day safely and symptom free so that we can be there to support you in your time of need.

Also, if you are an essential worker or part of a health care community, practice some self accountability and hold yourself to the same standard that we are holding the public to. If you know you have been exposed or are having symptoms, be honest and choose to protect your coworkers and clients over getting a full paycheck. I know furloughs and loss of pay are frightening, but you could save so many lives and relationships by making the right choice.

To all my fellow therapists, I miss your faces in my life each day and I am so proud to be a member of your tribe. I know when life goes back to normal we will all feel a little more grateful for all the day to day challenges we had come to despise before the world turned upside down. I miss my patients, my routine, my safety. I miss insurance authorizations, crazy schedules, meetings over lunch. I miss planning for future programs and to-do lists a mile long. I miss my normal. We may not be filling our typical roles right now and need to be flexible constantly, but that is what we do best! ❤️

Be healthy. Be safe. And please be smart!