Personalized Rehabilitation Provides Excellent Care

Personalized Rehabilitation Provides Excellent Care

By Damon Woodley

Skilled nursing facility rehabilitation is a vital part of the recovery process for seniors after a major illness or surgery. Rehabilitation in a skilled nursing facility is geared towards a patient-centered, holistic approach to allow a patient to recover mentally and physically, while a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals caters the medical plan to address each patient’s deficits. Skilled nursing facilities provide around the clock, comprehensive nursing care with teams of specialized physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, clinical dieticians, clinical social workers, recreational specialists and therapists.

Physical therapists in skilled nursing facilities are trained to be able to identify a patient’s barriers and deficits affecting functional mobility and devise exercises and activities to improve independence with mobility tasks. PTs work with the patient and their family to identify goals and the patient’s prior level of function to specifically target a path to a successful discharge. Whether a patient is experiencing weakness and lack of coordination from a stroke, decreased activity tolerance from respiratory or cardiac issues, or pain and reduced range of motion from an orthopedic procedure, a physical therapist will expertly target each patient’s deficits and devise a plan to help lead a patient to improved independence and function.

Occupational therapists in skilled nursing facilities focus on a patient’s ability to perform their activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Bathing, dressing and toileting are examples of ADLs, while cooking, cleaning and doing laundry are higher level examples of IADLs that patients need to be able to perform in their home environments. OTs work with a patient and their family to determine what each patient’s needs are at home and devise a plan of treatment to improve the patient’s strength, range of motion, balance and coordination to return a patient to independence with performance of ADL tasks. OTs also can identify and teach a patient to use special equipment to perform daily tasks when the patient has functional deficits that have altered how those tasks need to be performed.

Speech therapists in skilled nursing facilities not only assist in improving a patient’s communication, but also in improving their cognitive abilities with regards to safety awareness, functional memory and organization. A patient can be affected in a variety of ways after a neurological injury, such as a stroke, and speech therapists work to return a patient’s speech intelligibility, ability to perceive and understand speech and express their thoughts through speech. Furthermore, neurological deficits can result in increased difficulties swallowing food causing choking and aspiration that can lead to serious medical complications and speech therapists help patients regain the ability to properly chew and swallow food to maintain nutrition. Speech therapists work with a patient to address all cognitive, speech and swallowing related deficits to improve a patient’s independence and return them to their prior level of function.

NHC Parklane houses a rehabilitation program that offers Physical, Occupational and Speech therapy services to inpatients and outpatients that require care due to orthopedic procedures, neurological disorders, cardiac procedures or any other serious illness. Our rehabilitation department was 2018 South Carolina APTA Facility of the Year. Our therapists have over 100 years of combined experience and have been at NHC Parklane for over 9 years each on average.

Our therapists have multiple certifications and specializations to better provide excellent care.

• All full-time Physical Therapists are Geriatric Certified Clinical Specialists through the American Physical Therapy Association.
• One of the only Certified Lymphedema Specialists in the region to provide definitive, expert care for patients suffering from lymphedema.
• Physical and Occupational Therapists that are LSVT BIG certified for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
• Physical and Occupational Therapists that are Certified Fall Prevention Specialists.
• VitalStim certified Speech Therapists for the treatment of swallowing disorders.
• McNeill Dysphagia Therapy Progam Certified Speech Therapist

While at NHC Parklane you can also meet our PAALS Facility Dog Bart! Bart is a 3-year-old yellow Labrador retriever who trained for 2 years at Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services to interact with therapy patients and residents in our skilled nursing facility. Bart not only interacts with therapy patients, visiting and even giving “hugs”, but also participates in patient treatments. Whether tapping a balloon with Bart, throwing items for him to retrieve, return and place for patient to work on balance and reaching, or working on stepping with Bart at your side, therapy is more fun with Bart around! Bart also visits with residents throughout our skilled nursing facility even when they are not currently receiving therapy to spread smiles and cheer!

NHC Parklane is a first-class facility that provides excellent care to all our residents whether they are with us for short term rehabilitation or live at our facility, as well as to our community through outpatient therapy. At NHC Parklane Rehabilitation, your success is our success, and we pride ourselves on the successful outcomes of our patients.

Damon Woodley, PT, DPT, GCS graduated from the University of South Carolina Doctorate of Physical Therapy program in 2004 and has worked in skilled nursing facilities since 2009. He is a Geriatric Certified Specialist through the APTA and is also a Certified Fall Prevention Specialist. Damon has been the Director of Rehabilitation at NHC Parklane since 2013.
803.741.9090 https://nhccare.com/locations/nhc-healthcare-parklane/