Every year, millions of Americans are discharged from the hospital following a procedure, illness...
Rehabilitation Services: Gentle Care, Renewed Strength
At VNA of Ohio, our rehabilitation therapy team includes physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists. Patients use our services to recover from many different challenges such as joint replacement surgery, recovery from a fall, and hospitalization after a stroke.
Whatever the case, our team works alongside our patients to help bring them back to their pre-hospital strength.
VNA of Ohio’s Rehabilitation Clinical Manager, Angela, oversees all of our therapy programs. We asked her to provide a brief overview of our services and describe their many benefits.
1. What types of therapy categories are included in the VNA of OH’s Rehabilitation services?
We offer physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.
2. What medical conditions or challenges do patients face before they obtain these services?
Physical therapy patients typically need help increasing overall strength, balance, and gait after a joint replacement or fall. With occupational therapy patients, there is a bit of overlap with physical therapy, but they typically need help re-learning the activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, feeding, and toileting after a stroke or injury.
Our speech therapy patients often need help strengthening their speech and regaining their ability to swallow effectively. An overlooked benefit of speech therapy is that we are able to help patients strengthen their cognitive abilities!
3. Is there a typical treatment plan used with each patient?
We meet with and evaluate each patient to decide how we can best help them regain their overall functioning. We know that the best bet is to decide on measurable goals and work on increasing specific functions, so that our patients can use their health care insurance, medicare, or medicaid dollars most effectively. Helping our patients regain their prior strength and achieve their best functional outcome is our aim.
Preventative services are also part of our practice. Yes, patients do receive nursing services after hospital stays, but we also offer stand-alone therapy services to improve home safety to help patients continue to live independently. Our services help keep patients out of nursing homes for as long as possible as we focus on home safety, strength, balance and overall improvements in their daily routine. The key point is that patients do not need nursing services in order to receive therapy at home. With a doctor’s referral therapists can be sole providers of care. Almost 40% of our organizations’ cases are therapy only cases.
In order to qualify for insurance coverage for this type of therapy service, a patient can request a doctor’s order from their general practitioner. Once they have the order, they can contact VNA of Ohio for an evaluation and we will begin our goal assessment and treatment plan development. Again, the more measurable to goals and specific the plan, the more likely the patient will find success and sustain insurance coverage for the services.
4. What have you learned about patient care during your time at VNA of OH?
I have learned to be adaptable in my work. Each patient invites us into their home, it is a personal experience. No matter their material circumstances, we provide care for them and do so as they see fit. Our team works with each patient to achieve their goals. However, sometimes, this can be a challenge. It is up to the patient to commit to their rehabilitation plan, but we are always there to support them as best we can!
I am honored to be able to help multiple patients in many different home environments every single day. My team understands that we are a guest in our patient’s home and each patient has different ways of doing things. Also, there are often family members to consider and consult. We are lucky to have gifted social workers that help us navigate the more challenging circumstances.
VNA of Ohio serves patients from 9 counties in Northeastern Ohio. We are the preferred care partner for MetroHealth System in the Cleveland area, but we serve patients from hospitals as far away as Akron. Understanding the range of socioeconomic circumstances and geographic locations of our patients is part of our everyday work, we see lots of different environments and must be ready for anything.
We get a special peek into our patients’ everyday lives and this is much different that seeing them in a hospital room. Our care is holistic and compassionate by nature because we see the patient in their own world. I take pride in helping each patient feel understood. It is our job to be flexible and understanding. It’s what I’ve learned that home healthcare rehabilitation work is all about!
Are you interested in learning more about our Rehabilitation Services?
Contact us today and we will work hard to care together for you or your loved one.