Most people don’t know the difference between physical therapy and occupational therapy until they need both. Physical therapy restores strength and movement. Occupational therapy teaches you how to use that strength in the tasks you actually do every day. Your PT might get your shoulder moving again after a rotator cuff repair. Your OT teaches you how to reach a cabinet, put on a jacket, and wash your hair with that shoulder. It’s a different skill set, a different evaluation process, and a different set of goals — all centered on the question: “Can this person take care of themselves at home?” At Dolphin Pointe, our OT team works inside a full rehabilitation center and coordinates directly with our physical therapy and speech therapy teams. When your recovery crosses disciplines — and for stroke, brain injury, and major surgery patients, it almost always does — that coordination under one roof is what drives better outcomes. We treat both inpatient and outpatient clients from across Jacksonville and Duval County.

Occupational therapy isn’t reserved for severe disabilities. It’s for anyone who has lost the ability to do something they used to do without thinking — and wants it back. If any of these describe your situation, an OT evaluation is the right next step.

Our occupational therapy program starts with a functional evaluation — not a physical exam. Your OT therapist watches you get dressed, observes how you transfer from bed to chair, tests your grip and fine motor coordination, and asks you to walk through the steps of a daily routine. This tells us exactly where the breakdowns are — is it strength, coordination, range of motion, cognition, or a combination? From there, we build a treatment plan around the specific tasks you need to do at home. Sessions combine therapeutic exercise to rebuild the underlying ability with real-world task practice in our therapy facility. Patients recovering from stroke, hip replacement, knee replacement, hand surgery, brain injury, and spinal procedures from Arlington, University Park, and Fairways Forest work with our OT team on these functional goals every day.

When a patient’s body has changed permanently — a hand that no longer grips, a shoulder that won’t reach overhead, one-sided weakness after a stroke — our adaptive equipment training program teaches patients how to use tools that restore independence. Long-handled reachers, button hooks, sock aids, built-up utensils, jar openers, and one-handed cutting boards let patients do things they thought they’d lost the ability to do. Training isn’t just handing someone a tool — it’s supervised practice until the technique becomes second nature. Our daily living skills training program takes this further with structured, repetitive practice of the complete routines patients will face at home — morning grooming, meal preparation, medication management, and household tasks. Patients from Colony Cove, Woodmere, and Springfield work through these routines with their therapist until they can perform them independently.

Before any patient goes home, our home safety evaluation program assesses the living environment for fall risks and accessibility barriers. We look at bathroom layout, stair access, lighting, floor surfaces, doorway widths, and furniture placement. We then make specific recommendations — grab bars, raised toilet seats, shower benches, threshold ramps, non-slip mats — and train the patient to move safely through their own space. For families in San Marco, Riverside, Mandarin, and across Duval County, this evaluation is often the final step before a safe discharge. Our OT team coordinates with our physical therapy and nursing teams to make sure the home transition plan covers medical needs alongside functional ability.

Occupational therapy is often the most underused discipline in rehabilitation. Most patients know they need physical therapy after surgery. Fewer realize that occupational therapy is what actually gets them back to independent daily living. At many outpatient clinics in Duval County, OT is a secondary service — a few sessions tacked onto the end of a PT plan. At Dolphin Pointe, occupational therapy is a full program with its own evaluation, its own goals, and its own discharge criteria. Your OT therapist works one-on-one with you — not in a group — and coordinates with our PT, speech therapy, and nursing teams when your recovery needs more than one discipline.

Our facility gives OT patients access to resources most standalone clinics don’t have. We use simulated daily living environments where patients practice real tasks — not just exercises on a mat table. Our aquatic therapy pools are available for patients who need water-based rehabilitation alongside their OT program. And for inpatient residents, our 24-hour nursing staff provides support between therapy sessions — helping with daily tasks using the same techniques and equipment the OT team has prescribed. That consistency between therapy sessions and daily care is what makes inpatient OT at Dolphin Pointe more effective than outpatient-only programs for patients with complex needs.

We serve patients from Arlington, University Park, Fairways Forest, Colony Cove, Woodmere, Gilmore, Lake Lucina, Springfield, San Marco, Riverside, Avondale, Mandarin, Regency, Orange Park, Southside, Downtown Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, and Atlantic Beach. We accept most major insurance plans, including Medicare. Call 904-914-8801 to schedule your first occupational therapy visit.

OT is different from PT. The evaluation is different. The goals are different. Here’s how the process works from your first visit.

1. Referral and scheduling. Your physician, surgeon, or hospital discharge planner sends a referral. Our admissions team verifies insurance and schedules your evaluation — typically within a few days for outpatient, same-day start for inpatient admissions.

2. Functional evaluation. Your occupational therapist assesses your ability to perform daily living tasks — dressing, bathing, grooming, eating, toileting, transferring, and hand function. This isn’t a range-of-motion test. It’s a real-world assessment of what you can and can’t do right now. The evaluation takes about an hour and identifies the specific barriers standing between you and independent living.

3. Goal-based treatment plan. Based on your evaluation, your therapist sets specific functional goals — “able to dress independently,” “able to prepare a simple meal,” “able to shower safely without assistance,” “able to manage medications without help.” You’ll know exactly what you’re working toward at every session.

4. One-on-one treatment sessions. Sessions combine strengthening and coordination exercises with real-world task practice. You’ll practice actual daily activities — not just isolated movements — until you can perform them independently. If adaptive equipment is needed, your therapist introduces and trains you on each tool. Frequency is typically two to three times per week for outpatient, daily for inpatient.

5. Home safety evaluation and discharge. Before discharge, your therapist conducts a home safety evaluation to identify fall risks and recommend modifications. You receive training on any adaptive equipment you’ll use at home and a home activity program to maintain your progress. Your therapist coordinates with your family to make sure everyone understands the plan.

Dolphin Pointe Health Care is a Florida licensed skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility that has been serving Jacksonville since 2020. Our patients and their families consistently rate us 5 stars on Google. We accept most major insurance plans including Medicare. See what our families say — then come see the facility for yourself. Visit our homepage to learn more about everything we offer.

If daily tasks have become difficult since a surgery, stroke, injury, or hospital stay, occupational therapy is how you get them back. Call us today to schedule your first visit — no obligation. We serve patients from Arlington, University Park, Springfield, San Marco, Riverside, Mandarin, Orange Park, Regency, Downtown Jacksonville, and the Beaches communities.

Dolphin Pointe Health Care
5355 Dolphin Point Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32211
Phone: 904-914-8801
Open 24 Hours