An OT Student's View on LusioMATE
When chatting to Arran Keith’s Mum recently, she suggested that we might like to have a chat with Arran’s support worker. She thought her experience of working with Arran, and his LusioMATE home exercise sessions, might make good reading. What a great idea that turned out to be Karen Keith! Thank you.
Georgia, Arran’s Support Worker
Georgia Cusack is a 3rd year OT student, studying at the University of Sydney, and like so many of her peers is happily juggling study with a little work to make ends meet. A little bit of nannying here and there and, where she can, some hands on experience in the field that she has chosen for her career. She found Arran, and the Keith family, through Hire Up and, in her own words, when Karen reached out to see if she could spend some time each week with Arran, she read his profile and ‘just couldn't say no! What a great kid! and Ambassador for Lusio!’
Absolutely Georgia, we couldn’t agree more!!
Sitting in on a LusioMATE session.
Career Choice Inspiration
When we connected I was keen to find out what had drawn Georgia to a career in Occupational Therapy. She told me that her Year 10 work experience in her local hospital in Young, NSW had confirmed that a career in health was what she wanted to pursue. When it came to applying for Uni courses there was something about OT that talked to her and that is the path she chose to follow.
‘I love working and communicating with different people and the OT role allows you to do just that.’ she says, then adds,’ it also allows you to help people reach their goals in all aspects of living which I find really rewarding.’
That’s terrific to hear Georgia, and I have no doubt that you will provide much valuable input and contribution to the betterment of people’s lives as you progress through your career.
Thoughts on LusioMATE
So what did Georgia make of LusioMATE when she was first introduced to it? Clearly we were eager to find out, so I cut to the chase, and asked her directly.
‘I have never seen or used anything similar to LusioMATE before so when I was exposed to it, I was very keen to see how it worked. I have facilitated home exercise programs throughout university placements where a lot of the clients had little motivation to complete their programs. LusioMATE is great in motivating clients to perform exercises which will in turn help them reach functional goals. I am very eager to see the future directions of LusioMATE and I will definitely have it in the back of my mind when working with people in future practice.’
The Benefits for Arran
She went on to give more about how she has seen it benefit Arran, saying ‘I have seen how it can be a great motivator for Arran to engage in activities that will help him functionally improve. The range of games is great and ensures that Arran doesn’t get bored when he is playing. The Lusio Sensors are so versatile which never limits the type of exercises that Arran is performing.'
Of course this is music to our ears, and what we hope to hear in terms of feedback, because it is absolutely what we are striving to achieve. Motivation, versatility and engagement are key words in the Lusio Rehab vocabulary and it's great to hear Georgia using them to describe her own experiences of LusioMATE and Arran’s home program.
Georgia’s Favourite Games
On the question of what’s your favourite games, Georgia was clear in her response of Lusio Mountain Biker and Lusio Basketball as they really encourage Arran to complete lots of reps whilst performing the correct movement.
This idea of the ‘correct movement’ is so important, and a great feature of these games. If the ‘correct movement’ as set out in the Movement Goal is not done properly then the ball doesn’t get given to you in Basketball and of course there is no slam dunk!! So not only does the game motivate you to play for an extended amount of time, in a bid to beat previous scores, something that Georgia has found that Arran is very keen on doing, but it also ensures that there are no shortcuts taken on the way to getting those scores!!
Home Exercise Programs and Telehealth
Finally I asked Georgia how the telehealth session had gone that she did with Arran and his CPA Physio Claire Smart. Claire is a great friend of Lusio Rehab and has been Arran’s Physio for a long time so we knew that it would have been a fantastic experience for Georgia. This is what she had to say:
‘Sitting in on one of Arran’s telehealth physio sessions allowed me to see what exercises were the most valuable for him to perform. It allowed me to see how I could incorporate these exercises within the range of Lusio games. I found this experience really great in that I could help Arran enjoy the Lusio games whilst performing exercises that were functionally relevant to him.'
