Hospital Rehabilitation Services

Acute Care Physical Therapy

Acute care physical therapists and physical therapist assistants are vital to patients who find themselves recovering from a surgery, stroke, a fall, a fracture resulting in needing to learn how to walk with an assistive device before going home and for those patients who just become weakened from an episode of pneumonia or another serious illness.  Acute care physical therapists use their vast knowledge of the body and how it heals to set goals and the appropriate treatment plan to allow inpatients to become as independent and functional as possible prior to their discharge. 

Our acute care inpatient physical therapists are also part of the Center for Orthopedic Wellness team of therapists that work with all the Total Joint Replacement patients. They follow the protocols as determined by Evidence Based Medicine as determined with the Center for Orthopedic Wellness. 

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy is ordered when the patient is having problems with the use of their upper extremities, self care skills such as feeding, dressing, bathing, or difficulty with problem solving and basic functional skills. Our occupational therapist teaches the patient techniques to use to regain the use of their arms and restore their previous level of function. Assistive devices are often needed for the patient to be independent in their activities of daily living (ADL) skills.

Speech Therapy

Speech therapy is ordered when a patient has difficulty with eating, swallowing or speaking. A modified barium swallow study called a videofluoroscopy is performed in the Imaging department with the speech therapist feeding the patient different textures of food while an x-ray is made. This test will show if there are any problems with the muscles and other structures in the throat that a patient needs to safely swallow food and not aspirate (swallow foods and liquids into the lungs which can cause pneumonia).

A technique using muscle stimulation to assist with swallowing disorders is called VitalStim. VitalStim requires special certification and our speech therapist, Suzanne Jackson is certified in the technique and uses it regularly with our patients.