Philanthropy in Action at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital
New beginnings: Donors give Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital outpatients a new therapy gym
The relationship between a physical therapist and a patient is unique. It's forged slowly through hard work, hours spent together, and a mutual goal — healing.
For patients recovering from spinal and orthopedic injuries, however, another factor is at play: the environment where therapy takes place. These patients do better in quieter, smaller spaces with familiar faces they see in rotation.
That's why when Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital asked to convert a 1,600-square-foot office space into a new outpatient gym, donors made it happen. They knew that renovating the rarely used conference room into a therapy space would not only help build better patient-therapist relationships but would also allow the hospital to serve the growing number of outpatients seeking therapy services.
"The new gym allows for a quieter, team-based approach," said Colleen Rocus, DPT, ET, NCS, Bryn Mawr Rehab's outpatient therapy manager. "This is important after significant physical trauma, which often includes psychological trauma. The new gym also allows our therapists to communicate more easily about patient challenges and progress. Our patients end up getting more than just physical therapy. They benefit from a physical therapy family."
Forty percent of Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital's physical therapy outpatients suffer from spinal and orthopedic injuries, some requiring extensive, long-term therapy. With the hiring of three new therapists and a therapy assistant, the hospital estimates it will be able to provide more than 4,500 additional patient therapy visits per year.
The new space features mat tables, parallel bars, recumbent bicycles, treadmills and other typical therapy equipment; the larger pieces of advanced technology are accessible in Bryn Mawr Rehab's primary physical therapy center. As a bonus, art from the hospital's famed "Art Ability" program, the largest art show and sale for artists with disabilities in the world, adorns the gym's walls, reminding all patients that disabilities, even temporary, can lead to new beginnings. "Creating a therapeutic alliance with our patients is crucial to our success," said Rocus. "I hope donors know they provided funding for more than just a new gym. They created the exact right atmosphere for our patients to recover."
Making concussion treatment enjoyable?
A severe concussion can be a frustrating and potentially dangerous diagnosis given the complexity of the brain as well as compounding issues like underlying damage, psychological issues and individual variability. At Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital, testing for and treating concussions just became more accurate and effective — even "enjoyable" say some patients — thanks to the new donor-funded Bertec Computerized Dynamic Posturography system with Vision Advantage capability. The Bertec system offers patients an immersive virtual reality environment to enhance assessment and train patients to fix balance and mobility issues.
"The Bertec machine provides the gold standard of testing for balance impairments in patients who are post-concussion," said Kristen McCormick, PT, DPT, NCS. "This highly sensitive outcome measure allows us to compare a patient's performance to norms and helps us to direct our care more precisely. As for treatment, patients enjoy the changing scenery and the ability to mimic environments that they are encountering in the community and we have found it to be more engaging and challenging."
The system also offers wireless clinical assessment of the vestibular ocular reflex, another important aspect of concussion recovery.