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Occupational Therapist Dedicated to Helping Patients Get Their Lives Back 

There’s one sight guaranteed to make Georgia Menard, OTR/L, smile as she drives from one patient’s home to the next — spotting a former patient on a daily walk around town when they were previously confined to home and reliant on supplemental oxygen.

“I love helping people get their quality of life back. When a patient achieves their goal, that makes my day,” said Georgia.

An occupational therapist on VNA Care’s home health care team for more than a decade, Georgia helps patients improve their ability to do day-to-day activities like getting out of bed, dressing, and doing laundry. She collaborates with VNA Care’s nurses, physical therapists, and other clinicians to promote patients’ safety and ability to remain independent at home.

Georgia’s career choice was inspired by the impact she saw an occupational therapist have on the lives of two relatives with special needs. Working with patients in the home setting gives Georgia the ability to better tailor her treatment plans and advice to patients’ own environment.

Many of her patients have orthopedic conditions that cause pain, stiffness, and limited range of motion, and they are unable to do things like shower or dress themselves. She and VNA Care’s other occupational therapists help these patients adapt and learn ways to safely accomplish these activities.

Among Georgia’s recent patients was a gentleman living at an assisted living facility who needed someone to dress him and take him in a wheelchair to his meals in the dining room. The patient’s goals were to be able to dress himself and walk again. Georgia collaborated with her team’s physical therapists, and they were able to support this patient in achieving his goals!

Georgia said, “Patients are always very thankful and excited when we help them get their lives back.”