Outpatient therapy services offer pathway to improved health
At Rennes, staff members are always looking to the future – giving patients the chance at a healthier one with help from a strong team of outpatient rehab therapy providers.
That includes the physical, occupational and speech language therapists who offer help through Rennes Outpatient Therapy Services. Our therapists can assist patients’ recovery from a spectrum of injuries, illnesses and surgeries, specializing in issues associated with geriatrics.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rennes therapists have seen the need for outpatient therapy growth, said Ange Baeten, Physical Therapist at Rennes Health & Rehab Center – Peshtigo East.
“We largely focus on people who have had general declines,” Ange said. “The pandemic has led to a lot of elderly and middle-aged individuals becoming more sedentary, and with that, we’re finding declines of strength.”
Healthcare tune-up
Therapists can help with a “general tune-up” to help assess and decrease the risk of falls, which lead to many serious injuries in older people each year, as well as add to the growing cost of long-term hospitalizations and recovery. Rennes experts can test muscle strength, balance and other factors that can lead to increase risk of falling.
“While we are also a long-term care facility, we pride ourselves on getting people back into the community or keeping people in their homes so that they don’t necessarily need our care,” Ange said.
That may include connecting patients with an assistive device such as a walker. “We know that may not be cosmetically appealing, but we want people to be able to stay in their homes for as long as they can,” she said.
Home assessments to improve safety
Rennes therapists also can provide home assessments to help patients make their living space safer to prevent falls, to train them in the best way to use assistive devices, and offer exercises they can do at home to improve their balance, Ange said.
Keeping up good mobility is important also because a decline in activity is associated with the development of other health issues, she said.
“Patients might say, ‘I used to walk all the way across the store, but now I got used to using the cart,’” she said. “So we might have a slide in cardiac health. As therapists, we’re able to find strength and balance deficits and help people improve that.”
Therapists at Rennes also work with clients who are dealing with joint pain, which may be caused by a number of age-related factors. Weight loss and exercise are two big ways to decrease pain on joints, Ange said.
“There are different ways we can assist in controlling pain, getting people through it and then improving their mobility and safety overall,” she said.
Meeting a patient’s goals
Rennes works with patients to achieve a strong outcome as efficiently and effectively as possible.
“As a therapist I try to focus on what can I teach you to use in your toolbox to maintain your wellness,” Ange said. “We try to do what we can as efficiently as possible to meet the patient’s goals.”
Families can play a role in helping patients to recover, helping their loved ones to implement exercises and tools of health improvement.
“Even with our inpatient care, we’re just a snapshot in a person’s day,” Ange said. “But whether we get patients working with our caregivers here or with their caregivers at home, it can make a big difference in impacting their health.”
Rennes also has ways to adapt to patient needs, including a special home exercise program called MedBridge, offering patients the ability to access exercise videos from home. Therapists also can change print size on paper instruction sheets so that they’re easier for visually impaired patients to read.
“As physical therapists we have a little extra time to spend with individuals which allows us sometimes to get in a little more of the core problem,” Ange said. “From an outpatient standpoint, how we’re able to empower them for their wellness is a real benefit.”
Specialized care
Some Rennes therapists have additional specialized training as a PWR! (Parkinson’s Wellness Recovery) clinician, working with patients who are managing neurological challenges. Through Ange’s training, she learned to expect more of all her patients. “When we expect more, we get more,” she said. “We have a good chance of achieving our goals if we’re motivated to do so.”
Keeping up that activity and motion is key, she said. “I have a saying that we need to keep moving so we don’t become the chair,” Ange said. “I often hear, ‘Well, I’m 96, what do you expect?’ But I’ve sent home people age 100-plus.”
Patients usually find their way to Outpatient Therapy Services through a physician referral. A simple phone call to your local Rennes location can help you verify your benefits and set up your evaluation and health history, she said.
“One thing I really love about the Rennes Group is there’s a real family atmosphere here,” Ange said. “I think our patients become part of our family in a way. I had a patient who came back and said, ‘You know, I trust you.’ We develop that rapport with people so that they feel that they got what they came for. And I think that’s really a great thing.”
