Occupational Therapists Celebrated at Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital

This year, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital (RCWMCH) will host the annual Metro Occupational Therapists in Health forum at the Staff Education Centre on Friday October 15. The forum brought to a conclusion a national week dedicated to Occupational Therapy awareness from 11-15 October 2010.

Occupational therapists (OTs) use meaningful activities to help clients with a range of problems, to improve their functioning and quality of life. This empowers them to be as independent as possible and to experience dignity and quality of life at work, at home and at play. OTs, therefore, treat clients who cannot do, what many would consider, ordinary and familiar things in their daily life due to an illness, injury or disability.

"During OT week we aim to create awareness of the role of the OT in the paediatric. We value the multi-disciplinary team and the holistic approach that the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital (RCWMCH) offers through teamwork. We want to celebrate our colleagues but also make them aware of the OTs role within the team," OT Head of Department (HOD) Mereille Pursad said.

To raise awareness around the work that OTs do, Mrs Pursad's team hosted puppet shows in all the hospital's wards, as well as a Multidisciplinary Team social.

For more information on OT visit www.otasa.org.za