Therapy Success at Integrity Healthcare of Columbia!
By: Rick Weber, Director of Business Development at Integrity Healthcare of Columbia
I had the pleasure of sitting and talking to Ms. Nelda Brightwell about her courage bound journey through our extensive rehab program, these past couple months. Not only did we discuss the strength that was bestowed upon herself to reach her goals, but the admiration from our staff that kept her going throughout her therapy stay.
When Ms. Nelda Brightwell came to Integrity Healthcare of Columbia, at the end of December, she was nervous but more determined than anything. She had never been to a nursing care facility before, and was wanting to return home as quickly as possible; but more importantly getting there by walking again.
On December 29th, 2016, Nelda had her first day of physical therapy. The therapy team evaluated her, with her baseline being that she would require assistance to stand and to sit, as well as not being able to move around once she was standing. At that time, Nelda was unable to walk … even with the assistance of a wheeled walker.
Now, Nelda knew she had a lot of work ahead of her, but that was not going to stop her nor get in the way of her therapy assistants, Karen and Steve. These two were Nelda’s rocks; they pushed her … to push herself, because they knew how important it was for Nelda to get back home. The program started with the parallel bars; this was important to get her legs going to begin the process. They worked up to the Omnicycle and Nustep therapy machines for strengthening, and they utilized the Diathermy machine, to decrease any pain and inflammation that was caused by the daily workouts; and in no time, she was going up and down steps during her therapy.
Bret Berghoefer, our therapy director, had this to say about Ms. Brightwell, “Her recovery was faster than expected due to her hard work, the fast-paced therapy sessions, and the use of our state of the art therapeutic equipment.”
Nelda had completed her physical therapy in 50 days. She was able to return home on February 15th, 2017. She was elated to go home, but was more grateful than anything.
This is what Ms. Nelda had to say about our facility and staff, “This therapy department, at Integrity Healthcare of Columbia, has changed my Life. I am proud of myself, but I am even more proud of the efforts by the staff members. I am going up and down steps now by myself, and that is something that I have never done before. I also want to thank not only the therapy staff, but the nursing staff as well; they are extremely helpful and hard working. I was very fortunate to have had such great nursing care. When I first came to this facility for rehab, I could not stand on my right leg, and now I can walk up steps with both. I am forever grateful. I do want to name a few staff members that always went above and beyond for me. Those staff are Steve and Karen from the Rehab Department, and Janet and Shirley in Activities; they are some of the most determined hardest working employees I have ever met. I have made some great friends, some were residents, some were staff members, and we will all most definitely keep in contact outside of the facility.”
Integrity Healthcare of Columbia! We are Integrity. We are Care You Can Trust!