Rehabilitation

St John’s partners with Rehabcare to provide therapy and rehabilitation services on and in patient or out patient basis to the people on our campus.  Rehabcare Group, headquartered in St. Louis Missouri, is a leading provider of contract rehabilitation services to nursing homes and other skilled nursing facilities across the country.

Nursing Homes are no longer simply places where people go to live out their final days.  The majority of people who are admitted to Nursing Homes are there to receive rehabilitation services so that they can go back home.  In fact, over 50% of the people discharged from St. Johns, either went home, or to a setting where less care is required, such as an apartment or assisted living.  Today, the primary focus of nursing homes is to get you stronger, get you better, and get you HOME!

What is Rehabilitation?

Although rehabilitation techniques have been used throughout modern and ancient medicine, it has only been since post-World War II that aggressive changes have been made toward rehabilitation as part of our medical care system.

Rehabilitation medicine is an attempt to assist individuals who have experienced catastrophic illness or injury in reaching their highest level of independence. This is achieved through a team of healthcare professionals that include physicians, nurses, physical therapists. Licensed Occupational Therapists, Speech/Language Pathologists, Dieticians, and Social Workers. The rehabilitation team develops a treatment regimen based on the individual needs of each patient. Family members are also an integral part of the team. They participate in education, therapy, and preparing for the patient’s discharge.

Individuals treated in rehabilitation have a wide range of illnesses and injuries, including stroke, aneurysm, and cardiopulmonary dysfunction. There are those who have experienced amputation of limb and post traumatic or elective joint replacement. Individuals with debilitating muscular, skeletal, or neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, also seek services.

Rehabilitation focuses on three main areas: prevention of medical complications, maximizing functional abilities, and preparing the patient to return home or to a lesser level of care. Treatment may address mobility, strength, endurance, range of motion, balance, pain management, wound care, motor control, activities of daily living, swallowing/feeding, cognitive functions, speech, nutrition, home evaluations, training in the use of self-help aids, and other areas.

There are many physical impairments that can compromise an individual’s lifestyle and physical functioning. The rehabilitation program at St. John Lutheran Home helps individuals improve, and move on with their lives.