They Make 'Doing' Possible for Handicapped ; Shreveport-Bossier Observing National Hospital Week

              SHREVEPORT JOURNAL Tuesday PM Your Health SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER CITY, LA., MAY 11,1982
Journal Photo by Gu» Gustovich
Kim Norton, an occupational therapist at LSU Medical Cen-ter,
adjusts equipment.
Journal Photo by Gus Gustovich
At the Shrine Hospital for Crippled Children, Karen Ayala (center) is helped by
(from left) LuAnn Pearson, OTR; Linda Rowe, special aide; and Annette
Simmons, OTR. Journal Photo by Ken Martin
They make 'doing' possible for handicapped Occupational therapist Mary Paige Rose demon-strates
a self-feeding apparatus.
By NAN BLAND
Journal Staff Writer
May 9-15 is National Occupational Thera-py
Week. What is that, you ask? Don't be
embarrassed if you are among those who
have always lumped physical therapy (PT)
occupational therapy (OT) into one pro-fession.
Almost everyone, until disaster strikes
and someone dear must have the care of an
occupational therapist, is confused about
just what an OT does that a PT doesn't do. In
talking with some of the OTs in Shreveport,
we learned that PTs work to make muscles
functional, and OTs help the patient use
those functional muscles to become self
sufficient.
One of its slogans — "We Make 'Doing'
Possible" — gives us a clue to what OT is all
about.
Occupational therapists work as a team
with physical therapists, all therapists, doc-tors,
nurses, parents, teachers and em-ployers
to help handicapped persons over-come
problems and competently handle the
tasks of everyday living. OTs might be
called "problem solvers." The profession
began in World War II when activities were
authorized for wounded soldiers to speed up
their recovery.
Creating a good self image and helping the
patient to become independent are two of
the goals LuAnn Pearson says she and An-nette
Simmons work toward at Shrine Hospi-tal
for Crippled Children. A lot of their work
is training children, who have lost limbs or
were born without them, to use artificial
limbs. They also see children with birth
defects such as spina bifida (lack of closure
of the spine), which can cause varying
degrees of paralysis. In fact, it's rather
difficult to categorize the many kinds of
problems they work to alleviate.
Initially, the children at Shriners spend
about a two- to three-week stay in the
hospital for evaluation and treatment. When
they reach a point they can continue their
therapy at home, parents are trained to
supervise the work. The patient returns as
more therapy is need. LuAnn says it's
thrilling to see the progress these children
make over the years (from birth to 21).
All the OTs agree that their work is made
easier when a child can be evaluated at a
very early age, before a negative image or
bad motor patterns are formed. The very
young accept their conditions and, if there
are no bad habits to "unlearn," progress can
get under way.
Over at C-BARC (Caddo-Bossier Associa-tion
for Retarded Citizens), Anita Gilliam
says its program includes adult workshops
where retarded people learn a trade, quite a
few group homes for displaced elderly peo-ple
and retarded children, clinics that peri-odically
check the children (from birth to 6),
as well as developmental therapy in-corporating
the skills of PTs and OTs. They
work with motor skills (such as head control,
kneeling, sitting, standing, crawling) and
self-care (feeding, dressing, and handling
small objects).
Funded by United Way, the state Office of
Mental Retardation and private donations,
C-BARC's services are free during the
school year, but a charge is made for the
summer program.
This summer, there will be horseback
riding, swimming and field trips to parks
and area exhibits. A sibling program will be
introduced this summer to help give children
perspective by letting them see that their
brother or sister is among many who have to
overcome handicaps.
Next year, C-BARC will initiate a day-care
center through which some of its pa-tients
can be mainstreamed. This ex-perience
is expected to make public school
an easier adjustment for the handicapped
child.
Also in the budget next year is the con-struction
of a playground so the children can
be outside more often.
Susan Brokaw at the Spinal Cord Center
works with victims of strokes, guillian barre
(an unpredictable, debilitating disease that
attacks the nerves and can reverse itself)
and all the conditions that affect the pa-tient's
ability to function. She strives to meet
the needs of each child, always working to
make the patient as independent as possible.
Occupational therapy is offered at the
hospital of LSU Medical Center as well as in
the LSU-MS Children's Center. Judy Vestal
is in charge of the Children's Center, which
treats children from birth to 6. Behavioral
problems, motor diffculties, even potty
training, are some of the cases the center
tackles.
Judy says the center's proximity to the
hospital is a distinct advantage when work-ing
with children who are hard to diagnose.
Children are sent to the hospital for further
testing, such as a CAT (Computerized Axial
Tomography) scan or an encephalogram.
Judy works with teachers who, she says,
try very hard to help the handicapped child
integrate with normal children in the
classroom. Counseling groups as well as
individual teachers and parents, she outlines
the type of assistance each child must have.
At the LSU Medical Center, Mary Paige
Rose sees many types of handicaps — those
caused by strokes, burns, automobile acci-dents,
birth defects and aging. Each case is
different. Victims of accidents can become
paralyzed, lose the use of a hand or, in cases
of head injuries, speech or vision.
Often, Mary Paige says, when an OT
cannot find a piece of equipment that's
needed to help a patient, she must make do
with her own innovations. Some of the things
she has designed to help patients include: an
embroidery hoop permanently anchored on
a table so a patient could sew; a cuff to hold
a spoon to help a quadriplegic, unable to
grasp a spoon, feed himself; a loop to help
patients dress; and a hook for buttoning
clothes.
One of the girls with whom Mary Paige
worked was a former gymnast, very athletic
before becoming a quadriplegic. With the
help of the skills she learned at the hospital,
she became independent enough to return to
college in a wheelchair.
Always, Mary Paige says, the OT stresses
the capabilities of the patient, not his dis-abilities.
One of the stroke patients with
whom she worked has become self sufficient
enough to operate a small store.
"Training sessions not only teach the pa-rents
and teachers what they must let the
handicapped do, but just as important, what
the patient can't be expected to do for
himself," Mary Paige said. The parent or
teacher must know where to draw the line in
order to be of the most help.
All occupational therapists aim to help the
handicapped realize their potential. In many
cases, nothing can be done to returfj the
person's capabilities to what they -were
before disaster struck, but through the help
of a competent OT, there is hope that once
again he can be independent, even self-supporting.
• • *
Occupational therapy provides services to
people whose lives have been disrupted by
physical injury or illness, developmental
problems, the aging process and social or
psychological difficulties. Occupational
Therapists, Registered (OTR) complete four
years of college in an accredited OT pro- ,
gram. In Louisiana, the course is available
at Louisiana State University Medical Cen-ter
and North East Louisiana University in
Monroe.
Certified Occuaptional Therapy Assis-tants
(COTA) are high school graduates who
have completed an associate degree pro-gram
in an accredited university, or jun-ior/
community college, or a one-year
certificate program of an accredited educa-tional
institution.
OT is covered as an inpatient and outpa-tient
service under several federal pro-grams.
Medicare and Medicaid provide the
largest amount of federal third-party reim-bursement
for this service. Private in-surance
coverage plans that include occupa-tional
therapy vary widely. Among major
insurance companies offering plans that
include OT are: Blue Cross, Travelers,
Prudential, Continental and Aetna.
T
Shreveport-Bossier observing National Hospital Week
This is National Hospital Week, and hospi-tals
in Shreveport and Bossier City are
conducting a number of activities in keeping
with the this year's theme, "You've Got a
Friend."
Bossier Medical Center is featuring a slide
cassette program on life habits in the front
lobby, with pamphlets available for the
public, and also has a display board set up
with photographs of good life habits. Em-ployees
of the medical center will be given a
free meal during the week, and all will
receive a personal letter from the adminis-trator,
David Beach. Patients will receive
tray cards in keeping with the theme.
Employees at Willis-Knighton Medical
Center will be wearing "You're Among
Friends" buttons during the week, and will
view a slide presentation by the same title.
They will be honored today at receptions
held at intervals to accommodate all the
shifts. The hospital will hold it$ first "Run
for Fun" for employees at 5 p.m. Friday,
with T-shirts for all participants and medals
for winners in male and female categories.
Patients will receive tray cards and young-sters
in the pediatric ward will be given
helium balloons.
Doctors' Hospital employees will be hon-ored
at a breakfast Wednesday, and the 10
employees of the year will be announced at
the event. Employees of the year are
selected by peer vote in their respective
categories and in addition to being named
for the honor, will receive a day off with pay
and a $50 gift certificate.
A special luncheon will be held for the
nursing staff at Highland Hospital and gifts
will be presented to all the nurses.
At Schumpert Medical Center, the annual
poster contest for area third graders will be
held during the week, and the public is
invited to view the artwork in the hospital
discharge lobby. Blood pressure screenings
for the public began Monday and will be
continued 9-11 a.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m. on
Wednesday and Friday.
P&S Hospital is continuing its free blood
pressure screenings, held daily 2-4 p.m.
In addition to the large photo exhibit in the
lobby at the Veterans Adminstration Medi-cal
Center, hospital week events include a 2
p.m. concert today by Barksdale Air Force
Base's 8th Air Force Band, a Wednesday
reception honoring nurses on the birth date
of Florence Nightingale and a "Focus on
Prevention Fair" on Friday, with represent-atives
from the American Diabetes Associa-tion,
the Shreveport Police Department's
Narcotics Division, the American Cancer
Society, the LSU Poison Control Center and
the American Lung Association partici-pating.
Riverside Community Hospital's celebra-tion
of National Hospital Week includes
"Community Appreciation Day" on Wednes-day,
wtih free blood pressure checks given in
the emergency room. Coffee and cookies
will be served, and each person who has a
blood pressure check will receive a free gift.
A tour and open house is set for Sunday, 2-4
p.m., with members of the Riverside Volun-teer
Guild conducting tours through the
various departments of the hospital. The
hospital also will have Employee Apprecia-tion
Day, Physician Appreciation Day and
the Patient Appreciation Day.
First National Bank of Shreveport is
paying tribute to area hospitals this week
with a photographic exhibition highlighting
Shreveport-Bossier hospital facilities and
personnel in the Main Office Lobby, 400
Texas Street.
Journal Photos by Gus Gustovich
Students from Judson Fundamental
School got a better insight into what
goes on inside a hospital, from the
laboratory to the laundry, when they
toured Schumpert Medical Center
recently. Mark Richardson (above)
gets a microscopic look at blood in
the Schumpert lab, and a group of
third graders (left) stare in wonder
at a tiny infant in the hospital's new-born
nursery.
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