Rehab Prepares Patients to Go Home

After surgery or injury, a team of medical specialists ensure recovery goals are met.

By OHM Staff

It’s a well-documented fact that patients who have the opportunity to participate in rehabilitation after injuries, surgeries, or other serious illnesses show improved mobility over those who do not. Rehabilitation in the appropriate setting provides the maximum potential for recovery. The higher level of care provided in an acute rehabilitation facility allows for improved outcomes and discharge destinations in a shorter amount of time.

During a recent search for rehabilitation facilities, Our Health Matters discovered one of the nation’s leaders was right here in our community. Located in Overland Park (KS), MidAmerica Rehabilitation Hospital has earned the Gold Seal of Approval by the Joint Commission’s National Quality of Approval. The hospital offers comprehensive rehabilitation services designed to return patients to leading active and independent lives.

Rehabilitation Care

An acute rehabilitation hospital setting offers a full continuum of rehabilitative programs and services for individuals who have suffered a major accident or illness, including trauma, stroke, head injury, spinal cord injury, amputation, arthritis, chronic pain, and neuromuscular and pulmonary diseases. A team of highly skilled physicians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, nurses and support staff provide rigorous therapies. There is greater physician involvement and therapy time as well as increased availability of pharmacy, respiratory therapy, dialysis, and laboratory services compared to other levels of rehabilitative care.

MidAmerica, like other rehabilitation hospitals, is led by a medical director who supervises a multi-disciplinary team. This team of professionals provides a coordinated program of care including goal setting, treatment plans, family education and discharge planning. Careful physician supervision ensures that each patient’s rehabilitation is compatible with and appropriate for their medical condition. “We are team oriented and hands on in our approach to rehabilitation,” said Cielo Navato-Dehning, MD, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician and Medical Director at MidAmerica Rehabilitation Hospital. “At our hospital, a physician will often see a patient every day. Physicians also lead weekly team meetings to discuss each patient’s progress towards meeting their rehabilitation goals.”

Patients at MidAmerica Rehabilitation Hospital benefit from fully equipped therapy gyms housing the latest in rehabilitative technology. The use of innovative technologies helps patients walk again, regain use of their arm and hand, swallow more efficiently, improve communication and regain concentration and balance. For example, the AutoAmbulator, created by and exclusive to HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospitals, improves a patient’s ability to walk and move around. This cutting edge treadmill device uses the therapeutic concept of body-weight-supported movements and robotics to help patients with walking disorders.

Demonstrating Results

In 2002, The Joint Commission launched its Disease-Specific Care Certification program, the first of its kind in the country. To earn this distinction, a disease management program undergoes an extensive, unannounced, on-site evaluation by a team of reviewers every two years. The program is evaluated through an assessment of the program’s ability to evaluate and improve care within its own organization and through interviews with patients and staff. MidAmerica Rehabilitation Hospital received Disease Specific Care Certification in four rehabilitation programs: Stroke, Spinal Cord Injury, Brain Injury and Amputation.

The Joint Commission’s evaluation of the MidAmerica Rehabilitation stroke program solidified the hospital’s commitment to investing in quality care. Evaluations conducted by the Commission provide direction towards continually improving the care hospitals administer. More importantly, this accountability gives patients peace of mind because they know they are receiving the industry’s highest standard of care.

About MidAmerica Rehabilitation Hospital

MidAmerica Rehabilitation Hospital is a 98-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital that offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services throughout the Kansas City area.  

MidAmerica Rehabilitation Hospital is a joint venture of HealthSouth Corporation and Shawnee Mission Medical Center. For information (913) 491-2400 or visit MidAmericaRehabHospital.com