Rehabilitation Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital
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Rehabilitation Center Floor Plan
EVENT-AT-A-GLANCE June 5, 2009 1:30 p.m.: Ceremony Master of Ceremony Veto J. ‘Sonny’ LaSalle – Chairman of the Hospital Board
Comprehensive Care Gregory Behm, MD – Ravalli Orthopedics & Sports Medicine
In Their Own Words Robin Warner and her two daughters Abby Jessop and Julie Allred
Vision is now a Reality: the Complete Package Jennifer Dunn, OT – Marcus Daly Rehabilitation Services Department Head Biomechanical Analysis: Pre-Hab/Rehab Tim McCue, MD – Medical Director of the Fly Casting Institute
A Gift to Our Community and Our Future The Daly Hospital Foundation 2:30 p.m.: Rehabilitation Center Tours Place: At the southwest corner of the Hospital Campus Parking: Main Parking Lot, off Westwood Dr.
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Take the tour of the new MDMH Rehab Center SEPP JANNOTTA Staff Reporter
Ladies and gentlemen, in the space that follows, we will be your tour guide through the new Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital Rehabilitation Center, please step this way. Rain or shine, snow or ice, when you pull up to the new building – located along Westwood Drive on the southwest end of the hospital campus – you will off load to a dry, shaded entrance, welcoming you into 12,500 square feet of stateof-the-art facility. The center will open its doors for the first time to the public on Friday, June 5 with a variety of festivities, including official tours, informational stations manned by therapy staff, tips for maintaining a healthy back, and congratulatory speeches from those closely linked to the project. Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital CEO John Bartos says the speakers will be highlighting the fact that the new rehabilitation center marks the completion of the second phase of a six-phase program to update the venerable Ravalli County hospital with bricks and mortar as well as with the latest medical equipment. Ultimately, Bartos thinks the therapy staff deserves the spotlight on the day set aside for celebrating the new facility. “Not only do we have a brand new building that’s well equipped with the latest technology, but we have a dedicated and qualified staff of 16 therapists,” Bartos said. “They are the ones who will make the center great … and it is because of them that we have such a dedicated following from [former patients].” The new center, which will more than triple the space the hospital now uses for rehab, connects to the main facility with a hallway. In-house patients with physical, occupational or speech therapy prescriptions need only walk or wheel a short distance for treatment. The $3 million center has treatment facilities for both adult and pediatric patients and comes complete with waiting rooms for both. In the children’s waiting room, you have a TV playing Disney Channel, while in the grown-ups
area, the coffee machine is there if you need a boost. There is an internet kiosk near the front desk and wireless connectivity throughout. Overall, there are 14 treatment rooms – the old rehabilitation facility had seven – and much-needed equipment storage and charting offices for both adult and pediatric therapists. To your left from the street entrance, you will find the main gym area. Here, like in the reception area, patients will benefit from the warmth of lots of natural light. If you are here receiving treatment, you may well take some laps on the track that circles around an array of hightech equipment, from which stationary cycling and treadmilling rehabbers will have views of the Bitterroots through the floor-to-ceiling west facing windows. Both the gym and adjacent treatment rooms are wired up to broadcast satellite radio and curtains are positioned to offer patients the option of privacy. An interactive Nintendo Wii video console will offer new forms of physical therapy by allowing patients to work through simulations of myriad movements. “The Wii is something that will be beneficial for everyone, from pediatric to geriatric patients,” says Rehabilitation Department Head Jennifer Dunn. “It’s a really cool thing.” Through a short hallway in the
back, you will find the next cool thing – a futuristic therapy pool. The pool features a hydraulic submerging floor, enabling patients to be wheeled on before going down into the water, a treadmill, and cameras that allow therapists to record underwater movements. A little farther on brings us to the pediatric area, where a gym offers training tools specifically designed for kids, including a child-size stationary bike. The room also offers a two-way mirror, allowing parents to watch the progress of their children from the hall without being a distraction. Nearby are a pediatric occupational therapy room and a pair of integrated speech therapy rooms that feature foldaway tables to allow for a conversion from an adult space to a pediatric space. Around the corner is the hand therapy room, where staff can fit traditionalstyle static splints or range-of-motion preserving dynamic splints. Next you will find the self care bathroom, where patients can train to perform their personal hygiene routines they will follow in their home life, all using bathroom facilities sized and laid out like a typical household bathroom. The same concept applies to the therapy kitchen, where the cooking appliances and a dining table look like they could belong to any typical American home. With the addition of a 45 degree
mirror positioned above the stovetop, wheelchair-bound patients will be able to check if their soup is boiling. The kitchen will also be supplied with various implements enabling people to perform tasks that might otherwise be difficult for them. “We have all kinds of things for people to try so they begin learning that they can do things with one hand or in new ways,” Dunn says. Another key room in the facility is the wound and whirlpool care unit, where staff can work with burn victims and other, similarly sensitive cases. The whirlpool tubs are situated with curtained areas and heat lamps for extra comfort. The entire room is designed for maximum sterility, from the touchless faucet to the germ-resistant Corian splash board lining the walls. Dunn says while the hoopla of inaugurating the new facility will be a great way to celebrate all the clever design, state-of-the-art equipment and allaround hard work that went into their new digs, the arrival of the first patients on Monday, June 8 will truly be the day to celebrate the new era of rehabilitation at Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital. “We are very excited. Our team has been working to create this [facility] for two-plus years,” Dunn says. “And now we are starting to feel the momentum [of opening] after a transition process of two months.” When the first patients arrive the staff will start making the most of this spacious and versatile new rehabilitation center. “We’ve always had a great team, now we have the technology and facilities to back them up,” Dunn says. The new rehabilitation center’s grand opening ceremony will take place on Friday, June 5 at 1:30 p.m. It will give the community a chance to meet the team, tour the facility and experience some of the advanced rehabilitation equipment available. Tours will begin at 2:30 p.m. following the ceremony. Parking will be in the main hospital parking lot, attendants will be available to assist with transportation to the center and additional parking.
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Rehabilitation Center – Fun Facts
What does it take to build a state-of-the art, warm and modern 12,000 square foot Rehabilitation Center?
• Square Feet: 12,000 • Construction Duration: 9 months • Total square feet of sheetrock: 24,000 • Pallets of brick and block: 34 • Yards of concrete: 360 • Tons of steel: 45 • Tons of joists: 6.5 • SF of decking: 14,169 • Gallons of paint: 219 • Total linear feet of maple trim: 1,240 • How many gallons of water to it take to fill the new state-of-the-art therapy pool? 4,800 • Carpet: 910 Square yards • Track : 155 Linear feet • Windows: 1,111 Square feet And a committed team, 2 years of planning, 9 months of construction and a budget of $3 million.
WILL MOSS – Ravalli Republic
Jennifer Dunn in the entry way of the new rehabilitation center at Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital. The new 12,000-square-feet facility will allow therapists at the hospital to better serve patients.
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Rehab center to feature cutting-edge equipment JOHN CRAMER Staff Reporter
From pediatric and geriatric therapy patients to world-class athletes, Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital’s new Rehabilitation Center features cuttingedge equipment with the versatility to meet the needs of the hospital’s diverse patient population. When the team of therapists at Marcus Daly was tasked with outfitting the new facility with the latest and most efficient equipment, they knew there were a lot of research hours in their future. They also knew that they would, essentially, have the opportunity to build the rehab center of their dreams. “We were kind of given the opportunity to come up with a plan,” said MDMH Physical and Occupational Therapist Pete Dunn. “How are you going to meet the needs of the clients that we have? We serve such a wide variety of clientele from pediatrics all the way up to geriatrics “We really had to do a lot of research on what equipment is out there that’s going to allow us to be versatile and also cutting edge as far as technology ... and getting the best outcomes in the shortest amount of time. We talked a lot about that.” The results – from the large main gym facility to the state-of-the-art rehab pool – seem to suggest that the research paid off and will continue to do so for Bitterroot Valley rehabilitation therapy patients. One of the center’s featured pieces of new equipment – the Power Plate whole body vibration system – shows the advantages that can be gained through the use of cutting-edge technology. The Power Plate, which is essentially a variable-vibration platform, increases the intensity and effectiveness of all muscle-strengthening exercises, reducing the time of patients’ treatment sessions. “With insurance companies with health care where it’s at, one of the challenges is how do we treat people and get them healthier in a shorter amount of time ... What tools are out there to be the most efficient?” said Dunn. The Power Plate also gives the thera-
pists a versatile machine that can offer patients different levels of healing. “With strength training, there’s what we call neurological adaptation where they have to learn how to fire more of the muscle, so we see some immediate strength gains just from that,” he said. “But also, there’s another component of hypertrophy where it actually builds the muscle unit. So, it can be used on both levels, for both strengthening in the early phases which is usually more neurological changes and then [later] you start seeing some changes in the actual WILL MOSS – Ravalli Republic muscle.” Another piece of equipment that will Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital Physical Therapists Desi Dutton (left) and Pete allow the therapists to offer treatment Dunn check out the features on one of the new interactive stationary bikes in the new that is both more efficient and more rehabilitation center. effective is a harness-based unweighting system that can be used to support a percentage of the patient’s weight while they undergo therapy. “What the evidence is showing is that the use of the unweighting system over the treadmill and over the ground is more effective in returning people back to normalized gait and normalized walk compared to those without the unweighting system because we’re able to start walking sooner,” Dunn said. The unweighting system can be used by neurological patients such as those dealing with problems associated with a stroke, Parkinson’s Disease or spinal cord injuries, or by postsurgical patients who have had a knee or hip replaced, or by children with disabilities who are learning to walk for the first time, explained MDMH Physical Therapist Desi Dutton. “All of our equipment is really focused on versatility for patients of all ages and all types of diagnosis and patient conditions and abilities,” Dutton said. The gym also features equipment aimed at making the rehabilitation process more interactive and even enjoyable for patients. Exercise bikes now sport interactive video consoles that put the patient in a virtual bike race or on a solitary high mountain pass. The bikes keep track of patients’ progress and even create a “ghost” biker that mimics their previous ride which they can try to beat.
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“Instead of just sitting here riding a bike for 15 or 20 minutes, patients can be more interactive; they can personalize their experience,” said Dutton. The gym also features the Nintendo Wii video gaming system, which can be used in a wide-range of rehabilitation applications with programs tailored to specifically address patients’ issues. The system works well for both wheelchair-bound patients and children. “It’s another way to keep them more interactive with what they’re doing,” Dutton said. “It’s fun; they want to try this, it’s stimulating ...They’ve got to think things through and that will help with all patient populations as well.” Near the gym lies one of the most interesting and impressive pieces of equipment included in the new rehabilitation center: the HydroWorx 2000. Seemingly straight out of a James Bond movie (minus the sharks, of course), the HydroWorx 2000 is an aquatic therapy pool that features, among other things, a fully integrated ascending and descending treadmill floor, moveable support bars, under water video cameras with patient level monitors, resistance and deep-tissue massage jets and a fully integrated computer system that monitors and records progress. The hydraulic platform allows patients to be lowered into the pool from ground level and offers a variable water depth from zero to six feet accommodating patients of all ages and sizes. The underwater treadmill has variable speeds from zero to 8.5 mph, giving patients the opportunity to strengthen muscles and movements while weightless. “It’s an unweighting system so, now, all of a sudden, after somebody has a knee or a hip injury and we’re working on walking or we want to work on the running mechanics of an athlete, whatever it is, the treadmill can move and we can analyze their movement using the camera, so we can give immediate feedback ... and that’s huge,” Dunn said. “This was the one that we felt was going to meet the needs of a wide range of clients from the high-level athlete to the geriatric population to a child.” The new rehabilitation facility will also feature the traditional array of more common rehab tools such as an elliptical trainer, functional trainers, a squatting machine, leg press, dumbbells, medicine balls and ankle weights, but with all the technologically advanced equipment, they might have a tough time getting patients to put down the Wii controller or get out of the pool.
MDMH Physical Therapist Pete Dunn demonstrates the Power Plate whole body vibration system. WILL MOSS – Ravalli Republic
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Therapists look forward to move into the new center
PERRY BACKUS Ravalli Republic Editor
When Jennifer Joyner moved to Hamilton eight years ago, she was excited about the notion of working with a team of rehabilitation therapists all under one roof at Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital. After spending some time working alone as a speech therapist in a school system at Cutbank, Joyner was ready to be part of something big. At the time, there was no way for her to have guessed just how big it would become.
“The reason I moved to Hamilton was to become part of this team,” Joyner said. “And that was way before any of us knew that all of this was going to happen.” “This” is the new 12,500-squarefoot rehabilitation center that will open its doors to the public for the first time later this week. The new center has more than three times the space where Joyner and the 16 other speech, occupational, pediatric and physical therapists now work and a substantial amount of the newest rehabilitation equipment. “The space we’ve been using for
years is certainly functional,” Joyner said. “We have basic treatment rooms and the kind of equipment you’ll find in other rehabilitation offices, but now we’re going to be on the cutting edge.” Holly Smith is a pediatric occupational therapist who has become accustomed to making the best use out of every inch of space. Using suspended equipment in the old pediatric gym required care to keep other children out of the way of swinging balls and bodies. When there wasn’t enough space inside, Smith sometimes took her charges out into the hallway for a tow on their scooter boards.
“In our current space, we really do sometimes end up being right on top of each other,” Smith said. “There are times when we have several children being treated at the same time and in the space that we have now, it’s not easy.” The new center, with its well designed storage spaces and thousands of extra square feet, will change all of that. With the kind of growth the hospital’s rehabilitation center has seen over the past decade, the two therapists agree they’ve outgrown their other facility. “As the hospital has expanded,
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people are choosing to stay closer to home for their treatments rather than driving to a larger town,” Joyner said. “I was the only speech therapist here when I first started. Within a year, they hired another speech therapist and we’ve been busy ever since.” There are 14 therapists currently working at the center covering physical, occupational, speech and pediatrics. Joyner and Smith said having all those different disciplines under one roof creates a synergy that’s good for both the patient and the therapist. “This is something you just don’t see in very many places,” Smith said. “For pediatrics, something like this doesn’t exist in a small town … it’s really unique. This
administration has a soft spot for children.” Smith said she too moved to Hamilton to be part of the team. “To have people working close together like this is good for the patient,” she said. “We can talk with each other. Everyone has different ideas. It makes a big difference.” The new facility includes a separate waiting room designed for children where the Disney Channel will be playing all the time. “Our waiting room right now has room for maybe seven people and they have to be pretty comfortable sitting close to one another,” Joyner said. “It’s pretty small and not all that comfortable of a place to sit and wait.” “People are really
going to like this,” she said, looking out the large windows in the main waiting room. “It’s going to be a nice place to hang out.” Both therapists said they’ve also been impressed with the hospital administration’s decision to get their opinion on how the new center should be shaped. “This was really a once in a lifetime opportunity for those of us working here,” Joyner said. “We were all asked for our input on how this facility should be designed. I have to say that it turned out better than we all expected.” Smith remembers walking into the new pediatric bathroom for the first time. “I walked in the door and saw all the clothes
hooks and dressing benches all right there at child height,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. It was just what I had asked for.” “And the view … well that’s just incred-
ible,” Joyner said. “We asked for a lot of different things, but we didn’t know that we were going to have this incredible view. They really did a wonderful job of making
this facility beautiful as well as functional.” “I can’t wait for our patients to finally get to see this,” she said. “They are going to love it.”
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