Dear Healthcare Practitioners,
You are our most valued individuals within our client base! Our most frequent purchasers are you, as Healthcare Practitioners, purchasing items for your patients; and we are so grateful for this! The provision of an Assistive Device requires support! Once the user has been introduced to their Assistive Device, as a therapist we need to provide support to the client AND their caregiver/s in the process of adapting to the Device.
In addition to support, there are SO many other aspects to consider: the context of the client, their environment, their whole world! What is the client’s feelings towards their Assistive Device? (This is so important!). Should they deteriorate, would this assistive device still be applicable? Do an Activity Analysis (Yip, they didn’t just do them in university for fun! – They’re so useful) – does the Assistive Device maintain or improve their functional capabilities? Does the Assistive Device itself need to be modified for optimal activity participation and performance? How does the Assistive Device impact a client’s family/ their caregiver/s? etc.
It is so important to think about these aspects!
Therefore, it is for this reason that we prefer the Assistive Device recommendation to come from a Healthcare Practitioner as opposed to the client themselves. I have seen far too many times that Assistive Devices have been stored away as they’ve been a bit of a “nuisance”. This is often the case when emotional, cognitive, environmental and social aspects have been mistakenly overlooked and blurred by the physical aspects of requiring an Assistive Device. It is, therefore, vital that a thorough assessment occurs before the provision of an Assistive Device in order to ensure the clients’ own abilities are maximised before adapting, assisting and compensating for “disabilities”.
We would love for you, as Healthcare Practitioners, to be advocates of our products. As we introduce new products, please keep them in mind when assessing a client to determine whether they would benefit from them. We would prefer it if our products were “prescribed” by you, as Therapists, rather than the client as you would be able to provide the best guidance and recommendations. Your expertise are irreplaceable! 👩⚕️👨⚕️
We stock a few practices on Consignment (You only need to pay for the products once they are sold). If you would like to stock your Practice with any of our products, please get in contact with us – we would be happy to chat about our Consignment Agreement further.
If you have any products in particular which you would like us to add to our range, please let us know via info@forgoodhope.co.za or send us a message through our “Contact Us” Tab on our Website by Clicking here.
Thank you for being the greatest advocates of our products and for all your support during our first year of business.
Best Wishes,
Claudia Menezes (B.Occ Ther)