We Are Going Good to Great!
“We Are All in This Together”
Our Willow Bend Rehab team is, in my opinion, the best of the best. Currently on full-time staff, we have seven in the PT department, six in the OT department, two in the ST department, one Floor Tech/Wellness Tech, 1.5 Administrative Techs/Wellness and one Home Health and Outpatient Coordinator. We all work together for the benefit of our patients.
Current Services/Programs:
The Willow Bend Rehabilitation department provides a variety of unique services that are made available to our patients. Current services provided include outpatient, home health, skilled therapy, rapid recovery, long-term care (LTC) and wellness services.
The wellness program was designed for several purposes to keep our LTC residents at their most optimal level, to reduce falls, to have declines of our LTC noted more quickly, and to provide customer service by enhancing our patients’ rehabilitation experience.
- Phase 1: Wellness Classes, meeting twice a week to work on improving functional mobility skills such as gardening, playing cards, Wii games, etc. It is usually attended by our Rapid Recovery patients.
- Phase 2: Contracture management. After receiving training for our therapists, the Wellness techs oversee the application of all devices by training CNA floor staff and monitoring applications daily under the supervision of our licensed therapists.
- Phase 3: Walking program used for our LTC residents and our rapid recovery residents. After receiving training from the PT, the techs are able to walk with residents one time, five times a week.
Our outpatient services are offered to patients who may have completed their episode of care at the facility but are still in need of skilled therapy services as well as community referrals. This program works to continue the plan of care set up while the patient was at WBNR in an effort to maintain the patient’s current level of function while always striving to meet the patient’s highest potential for success.
We have worked diligently to implement our Home Health program. We started from scratch by signing contracts to developing protocols for treatment and billing purposes. The goal is to provide a continuum of care from the moment a patient admits to WB skilled services, to home health, to outpatient. We signed one contract in July 2013 and recently signed another in September 2013, allowing us to utilize two different vendors in an effort to reach as many community members as possible.
Upcoming Services:
We strive to meet the needs of each and every one of our patients. There are several upcoming programs that are being developed in an effort to reach patient-specific populations. The first upcoming service is the outpatient balance program, which will consist of evaluating core stability; the vestibular system; sensation; and developing a patient-specific treatment program to address balance exercises and activities designed to increase muscle strength, improve sitting and standing balance, and improve overall functional mobility in order to enhance each patient’s quality of life and reduce his or her risk for falls.
A second upcoming program is the Cardiac Wellness program, which will consist of continuous assessment of the patient’s vitals throughout each therapy session, as well as specific exercises that focus on improving endurance and activity tolerance in order for the patient to achieve his or her prior level of function. A standardized test by OT/PT will be administered weekly. Education on cardiac precautions, nutrition and energy conservation will be provided.
What Sets Us Apart?
There are several factors that set us apart from others, including the extensive list of unique programs and services provided to patients at this facility as well as in their own homes. We have a team of compassionate and skilled therapists with a combined 160 years of experience. Our program officers help develop and implement new protocols that range from staff spirit to compliance with documentation. Together, we can accomplish anything! “We Are All In This Together!”
By Anna Boone, DOR, and Kelsey Hendrix, PTA Student, Willow Bend Nursing and Rehabilitation, Mesquite, TX
April is Occupational Therapy Month, providing a perfect opportunity to address the question on the mind of anyone who is unfamiliar with the profession: What does an occupational therapist do? AOTA provides consumers and healthcare professionals with this explanation: “OT is a profession that helps people across the lifespan participate in the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of everyday activities. OT’s holistic and customized approach to evaluations, interventions, and outcomes help a child with disabilities participate in school and in social situations, assist a person recovering from injuries to regain skills, aid an older adult to stay as independent as possible, and offer the specialized support and services to people of all ages and in all circumstances that only occupational therapy can provide” (AOTA, April).
