The Occupational Therapy PROMOTE Life Lab

Imagine that you never gained, or lost, the ability to dress, drive or work due to a medical condition. Occupational therapists foster participation in life by facilitating performance in “occupations” (or daily life skills) in people of all ages and abilities.

The KUMC Department of Occupational Therapy Education (OTE) is creating a PROMOTE Life lab in the Robinson Tower for 126 OT students. PROMOTE is an acronym for Promoting Real-life solutions for Occupational participation by Minimizing deficits, Optimizing environments, Tailoring technologies, and Employing task adaptation. PROMOTE exemplifies complex strategies occupational therapists use to foster independence and participation in essential occupations of life.

With your help, we can raise the funds needed to ensure that our students are prepared to make a difference in the lives of their future patients. Please consider a gift of any size to help provide the following equipment that will allow our students to be trained appropriately to address each essential occupation!

Activities of Daily Living (ADL): Basic daily life skills such as dressing, grooming, bathing, eating, toileting and basic mobility are critical for independent living.

• Lab needs: Adaptive equipment/technology to include adapted tools for eating, a variety of adapted toilet and bath seats, and small kitchen appliances for preparing food.

Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLS): IADLs are more complex life skills such as money and medication management, cooking, laundry, and driving.

• Lab needs: Creating simulated home environments for students to practice in is the best way to demonstrate adaptation for participation in IADL. We need full size and working appliances for the kitchen and SMART home technology to showcase how to simplify home management. 

Work: Participation in paid and unpaid (volunteer) work defines who we are and how we contribute to society. Loss of work skills due to physical, cognitive or psychological challenges is detrimental to individuals and families.

• Lab needs: Machines and tools for improving the condition of soft tissue such as ultrasound, electrical stimulation, hot and cold packs, and Fluidotherapy. New pans for fabricating splints and therapy plinths and mats for manual therapies.

School, Play and Leisure: Children and adults engage in the daily life skills of school and leisure. Children with developmental disabilities or veterans returning from war can present with barriers to full participation.

• Lab needs: Toys which can be modified with switches, adaptive equipment or technology to improve engagement in school, and various seating options for children that need different sensory inputs.

Community Participation: Regardless of level of ability, all people deserve access to their community such as eating at a restaurant, attending a movie or riding a bus to work.

• Lab needs: Mobility aids and accessories such as cup holders or catheter bag covers, oxygen carriers and driving simulator and screening tools.

To learn more about Occupational Therapy at KU, please click here.

If you have gently used and operational equipment that meet our lab needs and may be used to outfit our PROMOTE Life lab, please contact Occupational Therapy Department Chair Carrie Ciro at carrieciro@kumc.edu with more details about making a tax-deductible gift-in-kind.