Capture a better lifestyle through rehab services

River Park physical therapy assistant David Morton works with patient Henry Adcock in the hospital’s rehab department. The facility is celebrating National Rehabilitation Awareness week with an event scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 21, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

River Park Hospital is conducting a National Rehabilitation Awareness Celebration Kick-off Festival in honor of Rehabilitation Week.

This celebration focuses the nation’s attention on the powers and possibilities of rehabilitation. Rehabilitation helps people to overcome injury or illness and live life to its fullest. The observance salutes the determination of the nearly 50 million Americans with disabilities.

“It’s one of the most important things to recovery, the rehab process,” said River Park’s rehabilitation in-patient program director Charlene Young. “In-patient and out-patient.

It helps them to get back to the functional level they were before they came in, or at least learn some compensation so that they can maintain the highest functional level possible.”

Director of rehabilitation services, Britt King, agreed, adding River Park provides a wide range of rehab services and treats a variety of problems.

“It’s a wide spectrum,” he said. “Orthopedic injuries, hip fractures, knee replacements, neuro-muscular injuries, CDAs, TBIs, or traumatic brain injuries, and a variety of others.”

Young says River Park’s rehab services are some of the best in the area.

“We, I think, have the best team here that’s possible, to work with,” she said. “And I think the rehab unit here, as opposed to a lot of places, is fun, a fun place to be. And if a patient enjoys their rehabilitation process, they’re going to be able to get better much quicker.”

The events that bring patients to rehab change their lives forever. The team works closely with patients to help them regain all that they can to resume functional daily living. The Rehabilitation unit implements a multidisciplinary approach offering: physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, social work, 24-hour rehabilitation nursing care, and medical supervision.

Physicians, patients, family members, discharge planners or allied health professionals can initiate referrals.

If you believe a patient may benefit from River Park’s services, please call the facility. A member of River Park’s staff will perform a screening at no charge. The hospital invites you to call the case coordinator or program director at 815-4887 or 815-4888.

River Park Hospital will hold its National Rehabilitation Awareness Celebration Kick-off Festival this Tuesday, Sept. 21, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the River Park Hospital B.C. Smoot classroom. Health information booths, therapeutic demonstrations, tours and refreshments are among some of the activities planned.

For more information, contact Terri Adams or Charlene Young at River Park Hospital Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit at 815-4880.