Faith Regional Health Services | living WELL | Fall 2017

KylieMolacek, OTD, OTR/L, Occupational Therapist, assists Suzanne Stevenson with her treatment. WHILE VISITING relatives in Lincoln, Virgil Froehlich fell down a flight of stairs. “At first I thought he had a spinal cord injury,” says his wife, Betty. “He ended up with a fractured neck and a lot of lacerations on his head. We knew he was going to need rehab, and you want rehab close to home.” Acute Rehabilitation, or inpatient rehabilitation, treats patients who have experienced a disabling injury or illness that altered their lifestyle and limited their ability to care for themselves. Examples include ampu- tation, brain injury, burns, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries and stroke. At Faith Regional’s Acute Rehabilitation Unit, every patient’s care plan is tai- lored to meet their individual needs with the goal of helping them safely return home with as much indepen- dence as possible. “The philosophy for acute rehab is to surround the patient with an interdisciplinary team that is led by a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation,” says Lisa Parks, RN, executive director of Post-Acute Services. “The team also includes nurses nationally certified in rehab as well as physical, occu- pational and speech therapists that work together to formulate a plan of intense therapy.” ACUTE REHABI L I TAT ION Specialized care, close to home “The therapists, nurses and staff are excellent—very compassionate and professional. The hands-on care I received was great. Also, being in Norfolk meant my wife could be at home and still only be five minutes away. I hope I never have a need for this type of care again, but if I do, I know where I would go.” —Dean S. of Norfolk, patient Praise for Faith Regional’s Acute Rehabilitation On average, patients stay about two weeks “Because of the head injury, Virgil was pretty impulsive and had short- term memory loss,” says Betty. “That was real challenging for his safety. The staff was always spot-on when he was trying to get out of bed because it wasn’t safe, especially those first few days when he couldn’t remember to call for help.” Therapists will work with each patient, sometimes for up to three hours a day. They also do home visits to ensure they work with the patient on tasks that may be difficult once at home. “When we got ready to go home, an occupational therapist came to our house to give suggestions for safety once we were home and made sure he was ready for the transition,” says Betty. “They paid attention to what side of the bed he got up from so they could work with him in the hospital to get up from that side.” Learn more about Faith Regional’s Acute Rehabilitation Unit at frhs.org . Award-winning care Faith Regional’s Acute Rehabilitation Unit was recognized in the top 10 percent of Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation’s (UDSMR) 2017 Program Evaluation Model rankings for the delivery of quality patient care that is effective, efficient, timely and patient-centered. FRHS.ORG 13