Cadia Rehab – The Best Place to Get Better!
Providing care in Delaware for over 30 years and with 5 locations, Cadia Healthcare is the largest provider of Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing in the state. In everything they do, the professionals at Cadia Healthcare bring a passion for positively impacting the lives of the people that come to them. This month Joyce Winters, Corporate Community Marketing Manager, answers our questions and shares Cadia’s vision of caring for people in the First State, today and in the years to come.
WHAT EXACTLY ARE REHAB SERVICES?
Rehabilitation services can be either short-term or long-term and include a combination of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech-Language Pathology. When a person suffers a life-altering injury or event, they may be left with various disabilities or dysfunctions. Rehab services help a person get back to, or as close to, pre-injury as possible. Therapists use exercises, therapeutic activities, self-care training, balance and gait training, cognitive retraining, and more to improve function and movement, improve the patient’s level of safety and independence, and improve their quality of life. Here at Cadia Healthcare we incorporate an interdisciplinary approach to the patients’ treatment and plan of care. While keeping our focus on the patient, we also include the family and caregivers during education and training sessions.
WHEN WOULD A PERSON COME TO YOU?
Visits to Cadia are either planned or relatively unplanned. Someone planning a hip or knee replacement chooses where they want their recovery to take place just like they choose their doctor – ahead of time. Stroke victims, on the other hand, would decide they want to come here while they’re preparing for discharge. Both scenarios are very typical at our facilities. A patient is typically referred to our facility for short-term rehab services following hospitalization in order to regain their prior level of independence, with the goal of returning home. The length of “short-term” rehab could range from 2 weeks to 6 months, depending on the reason for hospitalization, extent of their disabilities, medical complications, and other considerations. Significantly, at Cadia Healthcare, the average length of stay is 24 days; the average across the state of Delaware for short-term stays in similar facilities is 35 days. The primary purpose of admission is usually for the skilled rehabilitation therapy; however, a person may also require skilled nursing services during their stay.
If, after a patient undergoes their plan of care, they haven’t regained their prior level of function or gotten to a level necessary to return to independent living, they may be appropriate for a referral to our long-term care unit.
HOW HAVE THE SERVICES TYPICALLY THOUGHT OF AS BEING PROVIDED AT A REHAB FACILITY CHANGED OVER THE YEARS?
When most people hear “rehab in a skilled nursing facility,” I think some of them imagine very little treatment time, simple exercises, and older people crying out in pain so that the therapists will send them back to their room. That is not what you will see in our rehab departments. Fully 75% of our rehab patients receive 2-3 hours of therapy per day and rehab is provided 5-7 days a week. We pride ourselves on the relationships we forge with our patients, especially because we feel it’s these relationships that help provide motivation and increase participation. The relationships are a huge factor toward making functional gains and achieving both the patients’ and the therapists’ goals. We want our patients to achieve the maximum benefits from their time spent in therapy and work extremely hard to reach that goal.
We continually challenge our patients to increase their strength and to increase the complexity of the activities they’re capable of. We often see the greatest gains when activities are enjoyed in a fun and interactive environment. One way we love to make it fun is by playing Nintendo Wii. Wii Fit, Bowling, and the other activities found in the games offer real benefits to patients’ balance, strength, coordination and progress. The games can even get a little competitive!
WHAT SETS YOU APART FROM OTHER REHAB FACILITIES IN THE AREA?
One of the key things that distinguishes our facilities is our personnel. We’re proud to say that staffing ratios for Cadia Healthcare are among the best in the state. Our certified nursing assistants are trained to help patients using our “rehabilitation” philosophy versus a “doing for” philosophy. Our goal is to get our patients home, enjoying life, as quickly as possible. It’s imperative, then, that the skills and techniques patients learn during therapy can be carried over to life back at home. It’s one of the most important areas of our focus, and is essential for achieving the long-term goal of independence. Significantly, over 65% of our short-term rehab patients return home. Our rehab unit personnel also provide excellent customer service to our patients and families to make their overall stay at Cadia Healthcare a success.
In addition, we have the unique distinction of having Delaware’s only dedicated ventilator unit for skilled nursing care at our Cadia Pike Creek facility. This means that we can provide skilled rehab services to our patients who are ventilator-dependent, providing them the ability to receive rehab therapy in our open, well-equipped gym. We also provide training in the use of assistive technologies. For instance, we’re able to train a quadriplegic with no motor function except head control to operate a computer, their TV and call bell.
Our rehab staff uses a holistic approach when caring for patients. Not only do our therapists identify any physical deficits, but they also identify emotional and psychological issues that may be interfering with a patient’s progress in therapy. Daily communication among the interdisciplinary team members means these issues are always addressed. We offer alternative therapy techniques to address pain, wounds and fall prevention. We also provide outpatient therapy services to patients discharged home from our short-term rehab program and accept referrals from patients in the local community.
One of Cadia’s newest initiatives is inviting patients to participate in group therapy. Group therapy is an alternative treatment method that allows for greater socialization among people, which in turn improves participation and motivation while also offering psychological support. We’ve found that when a resident’s perspective shifts with the realization that they are not the only one fighting a battle, it empowers them to give that extra added effort, which in turn results in a better, faster rehabilitation. Each facility has implemented group therapy with positive outcomes and feedback from the residents and families.
Our staff consists of highly educated and trained Physical Therapists/ Assistants, Occupational Therapists/Assistants, and Speech-Language Pathologists. The bottom line is that we’re professionals who possess excellent clinical skills, but more than anything we have a passion for positively impacting the lives of our patients.
