Physiotherapy services supporting social interactions for good quality of life

NEWS
4 May, 2021

The role of a physiotherapist in an aged care home is critical to residents maintaining a good quality of life. By improving movement in their joints and building muscle tone they will be helping to keep their physical independence.

Ryan Szeto, the lead Physiotherapist at our Miranda home, explains how the physiotherapists at St. Basil’s work together with residents to support social interaction – an important part of good physical and mental health.

“Physiotherapists have the privilege of understanding a person’s needs and desires and can offer their expertise to maintain their health so that a person can continue to do the things they enjoy,” says Ryan Szeto.

“This may be as simple as maintaining their ability to walk, transfer into a car to visit family, engaging in gardening with the lifestyle team or providing opportunities to enjoy social events such as our walking groups or day trips.”

The St. Basil’s physiotherapy team work very closely with the care staff to ensure that they attend to individual residents’ needs and wants.

“We prepare residents for a range of differing activities at certain times of the day so they can be ready to participate and enjoy themselves. We often incorporate social elements in our physical activities such as team work based exercise games, and also pair these activities with social events like our coffee club,” explains Ryan.

“Keeping residents educated and generating interesting discussions about their physical health such as bone health and heart health is also an important part of our lifestyle program.”

To learn more about St. Basil’s Homes Lifestyle Programs call 02 9784 3200 or visit https://www.stbasils.org.au/services/residential-care/features

About Ryan Szeto and the St. Basil’s Homes physiotherapy team:

Ryan Szeto is one of the many qualified physiotherapists at St. Basil’s Homes NSW/ACT.

His passion is to care for and improve people’s health literacy so they can have a better quality of life, especially those who have reached retirement age.

He loves the personal aspect of working at St. Basil’s Homes and being able to bring joy and instil confidence to those he cares for through his expertise.

On a daily basis, the St. Basil’s Homes’ physiotherapy team motivate and educate residents to have a better quality of life, and work alongside residents to ensure they are happy and healthy.

On a weekly basis you will find the physiotherapists hosting group exercise classes, events related to physical activities, teaching individual exercises, and providing pain management and education.