Occupational Therapy

The ability to live independently, free of challenges to physical, mental, and emotional health, is crucial to everyone. But in the face of an injury or trauma, aging, illness, and other barriers to daily living, it’s important to know that help is available. Occupational therapy is a holistic practice devoted to helping individuals learn and improve upon skills vital to performing tasks at home, school, work, and play.

Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital offers a wide range of occupational therapy services in Manistique to support individuals health. Our team of certified and highly skilled occupational therapists are dedicated to helping you or your loved one achieve daily living and task performance goals. Our goal is to empower individuals to live a full life with the help of occupational therapy services that build strength, improve coordination, rehabilitate physical and mental faculties, and assist with other daily living activities.

Learn all about our approach to occupational health at Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital.

What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational therapy improves health through a rehabilitative practice that supports individuals who have lasting impacts from various diagnoses. As a rehabilitative practice, occupational therapy encourages a therapeutic approach to supporting independence in daily activities, and recovering and developing skills vital to each patient’s daily needs.

Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital’s Occupational Therapy services in Manistique help individuals resume and improve daily living activities by:

• Evaluating the home, school, workplace, or other surroundings to identify barriers and recommend accommodations and strategies to support a patient’s goals.
• Developing a plan of care with a specific goals and activities that promote skills-building
• Helping individuals with disabilities perform daily living tasks, such as how to get dressed, and use eating and mobility aids and other adaptive equipment.
• Demonstrating therapeutic exercises and activities and educating family members and caregivers on supporting a loved one’s needs.

Occupational therapists work with individuals in home environments, outpatient facilities, educational settings, the workplace, mental health settings, and hospitals. Depending on a person’s identified rehabilitative needs, an occupational therapist can help them with daily tasks, provide early interventions for infants and children, and work as part of a hospital care team during recovery from illness or trauma.

Who needs Occupational Therapy Services?

Occupational therapy services can empower adults or children who struggle with everyday activities, equipping them with the necessary skills, equipment, and accessibility accommodations to live independently and flourish at home, at work, in school, and in the community.

Adults may benefit from Occupational Therapy services that target these conditions and barriers to independent living:

• Gross and fine motor deficits
• Brain or spinal cord injury
• Arthritis, juvenile arthritis, and chronic pain
• Joint replacement
• Trauma, fractures, and strains to the upper extremities
• Stroke
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Cerebral palsy
• Mental health
• Spasticity and contractures
• Musculoskeletal and neurodevelopmental challenges
• Poor balance and low vision
• Injuries due to overuse such as osteoarthritis, tennis elbow, and carpal tunnel.

Children ages 0-18 may benefit from Pediatric Occupational Therapy services to address the above conditions along with the following conditions or challenges to independent living.

• ADHD
• Autism
• Behavioral concerns
• Difficulties with sensory processing, focus, and self-regulation
• Feeding challenges
• Dressing, toileting, or self-care challenges
• Coordination, motor, balance, or visual perceptual difficulties
• Congenital disabilities
• Developmental challenges

What Occupational Therapy Services Are Offered?

Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital is committed to helping individuals recover from injuries, develop skills for daily living, and uplift their quality of life through a holistic approach to occupational therapy services. Through a wide range of modalities, we can empower individuals with renewed strength, the ability to live independently, and accessible surroundings.

Our occupational therapist team is dedicated to supporting your or a loved one’s well-being. We follow a proven approach in recommending occupational therapy in order to make meaningful changes to one’s daily routine and quality of life. Your occupational therapy journey in Manistique includes:

• Evaluation: During your first visit to Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital, one of our occupational therapists will discuss your needs and goals for daily living.

Your occupational therapist will observe how you move and perform tasks related to a deficit area, injury or pain. They will assess your needs and formulate recommendations, such as using assistive devices, household modifications, and completing therapeutic exercises or activities to support independence.

• Therapy plan: Your activities will be defined in a therapy plan. Together with your occupational therapist, you will set goals for daily living, which can help you adapt movements, improve motor skills, learn new skills, and perform tasks as independently as possible.

Occupational Therapy Services

Depending on your or a loved one’s disability and care needs, our occupational therapists in Manistique may recommend these modalities to help you achieve your daily living goals:

• Use of assistive technology and environmental modifications for accessibility
• Mental health therapies, including cognitive assessments and learning socio-emotional skills
• Neuro-developmental treatment for individuals who have suffered a stroke or brain injury, or live with cerebral palsy and other neuromotor conditions
• Pediatric occupational therapy, aimed at developing children’s learning, play, and socialization skills, as well as achieving developmental milestones, such as walking and feeding and offering sensory strategies to promote self-regulation throughout daily tasks.
• Physical rehabilitation, including therapeutic management of the upper extremity
• Specialized occupational therapy regimens for individuals living with chronic pain, autism spectrum disorder, motor deficits, sensory processing disorder, low vision, and other conditions
• Aquatic therapy, and more.

Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital is committed to providing a wide range of occupational therapy modalities that respond to various rehabilitative needs. Our occupational therapists are dedicated to working with you and your loved ones in determining your therapeutic needs and achieving your daily living goals.

Schedule an Occupational Therapy Appointment

Do you or a loved one experience difficulty throughout daily routines? Help is here. Visit Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital’s occupational therapy services today. Our occupational therapists in Manistique can help you develop crucial skills to live and thrive independently.

OUR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS

 

Occupational Therapist
Chelsee Larsen

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Chelsee is from Saginaw MI, where she graduated from Saginaw Valley State Univeristy with a Master’s of Science in Occupational Therapy, in 2020. She has experience working with various populations of patients to help them gain independence in their daily life to include: outpatient adults, outpatient pediatrics, inpatient adults, splinting and wound care. Chelsee particularly specializes in working with children with autism, ADHD and with sensory or behavioral difficulties. Chelsee enjoys being outdoors, spending time near the water, and running.

Occupational Therapist
Maija Erickson

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Maija is from the Keweenaw Peninsula in Upper Michigan. She has a B.S. in Exercise Science from Michigan Technological University and graduated with her M.S. in Occupational Therapy from Grand Valley State University in 2012. She has experience working in a variety of settings, including outpatient rehab, acute care, and home care. Maija specializes in working with upper extremity rehab as well as lymphedema. She received her certification as a lymphedema therapist in 2017, and also passed the certification exam through the Lymphology Association of North America.

Maija spends her free time gardening, reading, and finding new outdoor adventures to explore with her husband and children.

Our Occupational Therapists

Ryan Pairolero

Lisa Jones

Erin Sedlacek

Sal DeAngelo

Jacquie Hoeve

Megan Ketola