Alex with his family
© Creative-Touch via Getty Images
A personal reflection on remote working
Sharing the moving and powerful reflections of one of her clients – who has motor neurone disease – on the pandemic and its impact on his situation , Andrea Laker asks , have virtual assessments unwittingly made us more remote from the people we support ?
As an adult social care occupational therapist , alongside telephone and video assessments , I have been completing essential home visits throughout most of the COVID-19 pandemic . At the same time , I know that many of my social care colleagues have not ; some may not have physically seen any of the people we support for nearly a year *.
We all understand the extremely valid reasons for this . However , I worry that this may have caused a disconnect between us and the people we support ; it can be all too easy to miss the hopes and desires of the person or their family when you can ’ t see them and think only of their care or equipment needs and the eligibility criteria .
With this in mind , I want to share a recent experience with one of my clients , Alex . He is aged 44 and lives with his wife Laura and children Lois aged 12 and Jago aged nine .
Alex has motor neurone disease ( MND ), a rapidly degenerating and incurable muscle wasting disease . I have been his occupational therapist since July 2020 , and have
50 OTnews August 2021