Doug Carder / dcarder@miconews.comKathy Haffa, director of the rehabilitation team at Louisburg Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, works with Brandi Majors on a dynamic balance activity using a large rubber ball last week at the center. Hallmark Rehabilitation honored Haffa and her team for their work.
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Care team takes wellness to a higher level
Louisburg center becomes first Kansas facility to win Hallmark award for its innovative approach to rehabilitation
By: Doug Carder, dcarder@miconews.com
Kevin Richardson clutches the photo in his hand, but he still can’t believe what he is seeing. Residents, some in wheelchairs, feeding apples to Nosey the circus elephant at the Louisburg Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center on South Broadway.
“It’s not every day that you see an elephant in the courtyard,” Richardson said.
So the Kansas City, Kan.-based area manager for Hallmark Rehabilitation wasn’t surprised to learn about the miniature horse at the nurses’ station or the camel that came to visit residents at the center. Not to mention catfishing with Cookie the cat or the indoor putting green. They are a few examples of what Richardson said make the rehabilitation program at the facility so special.
Richardson was part of a Hallmark delegation led by president Mark Wortley that presented the Louisburg rehabilitation team with Hallmark’s Super Star Award on June 6 at the center.
The Louisburg center is the first Kansas facility and one of only a handful nationwide to receive Hallmark’s highest badge of excellence since the special recognition award was created last year. Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based Hallmark Rehabilitation has 183 skilled nursing facilities in multiple states.
Richardson told the gathering that Hallmark’s Louisburg rehabilitation team is special because of its innovative approach to rehabilitation that’s proven to be fun and effective.
Kathy Haffa, director of rehabilitation at the center, said her team’s goal is to get patients back on their feet, so they can return to their homes or live a better quality life at the center. Hallmark officials are waging an awareness campaign to let the public know that the Louisburg center, once thought of as a nursing home, is performing a much more active role in the community by providing rehabilitative care, including outpatient services, to residents of all ages so they can live more productive lives.
BEFORE THE award ceremony, Haffa works with Brandi Majors, a 32-year-old rural Osawatomie woman who was injured in a fall. Majors’ goal is to live life again without the aid of her walker. Majors scrunches her face as she concentrates on lifting her right arm as she remained balanced on her knees and left hand. After a few seconds, she accomplishes this task and then extends her leg. It’s a breakthrough in what Haffa and Majors hope will be many milestones to come as Majors strives to walk again.
After raising her arm, Majors lays across a large rubber ball as part of a dynamic balance activity.
“Balance is very critical to rehabilitation,” Haffa said. “Life is not two-dimensional, so it’s not enough just to get the patient back on her feet. You have to be able to regain your balance so you can maneuver around obstacles.”
Majors, who is currently staying at the center while she undergoes physical therapy, says afterward that her goal is to walk again in one month.
Haffa said she thinks Majors will make her goal. “I understand she likes to dance,” Haffa said, grinning. “We’ll work on it.”
IT’S NOT unusual to hear the music of Glenn Miller or Count Basie drifting down the hallway as you near the rehabilitation room at the center. Haffa and her staff often set rehabilitative tasks to the sound of swing from the Big Band era. That same morning, Haffa bats a large yellow balloon back and forth with an elderly woman while a Kings of Swing CD plays in the background. The elderly woman’s face brightens each time she keeps the balloon airborne.
“Most people don’t realize how far they extend when they hit a balloon; it increases their range of motion,” Haffa said.
Hallmark president Wortley smiles as he tours the rehabilitation room a few minutes later. He stops to look at a puppy poster hanging on the ceiling above a rehabilitation table. “It works in dentist offices, so why not?”
Haffa said the rehabilitation center would not work without the team atmosphere created by administrator Travis Houk and his staff at the center.
“What we’re trying to accomplish wouldn’t work without their help,” she said. “We are a family here.”
The Louisburg Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center is a 60-bed skilled nursing center that provides care for those recently disabled by illness or injury as well as individuals seeking long-term care and respite.
The Wellness unit is a dedicated area of the center providing the equipment, staff and facilities for individuals requiring short-term medical care. This 12-bed unit allows for care of individuals like Majors whose prognosis looks good for their return home or a lower level of care.
HAFFA, a licensed physical therapist, and Shelley Watts, a certified occupational therapist, are always looking for innovative ways to help patients. They once designed a program to help an 80-year-old man climb up into his farm tractor again. The pay off came several months later when Haffa was riding her horse and waved to the man as he drove past in his tractor.
Haffa and Watts, the only full-time employees of the rehabilitation team, are assisted regularly by therapists Sharon Burgmeier and Jennifer Cowdry and speech therapist Sharon McKnight, as well as several other therapists.
Haffa said she and Watts are always searching for items at garage sales which they can incorporate into their rehabilitation program.
Once, they found an automatic putting green, equipped with a machine that kicks the ball back upon a successful putt. Residents form a line to putt on golfing days at the center. The exercise promotes upper extremity and trunk mobility. On catfishing days, residents dangle toy fishing poles, with feathers as bait, above Cookie the cat’s head. The cat playfully swats at the feathers as the residents jerk on the rods.
“We try to make it fun,” Haffa said of the rehabilitation process. “If we’re bored, I know they are going to be bored.”
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“It’s not every day that you see an elephant in the courtyard,” Richardson said.
So the Kansas City, Kan.-based area manager for Hallmark Rehabilitation wasn’t surprised to learn about the miniature horse at the nurses’ station or the camel that came to visit residents at the center. Not to mention catfishing with Cookie the cat or the indoor putting green. They are a few examples of what Richardson said make the rehabilitation program at the facility so special.
Richardson was part of a Hallmark delegation led by president Mark Wortley that presented the Louisburg rehabilitation team with Hallmark’s Super Star Award on June 6 at the center.
The Louisburg center is the first Kansas facility and one of only a handful nationwide to receive Hallmark’s highest badge of excellence since the special recognition award was created last year. Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based Hallmark Rehabilitation has 183 skilled nursing facilities in multiple states.
Richardson told the gathering that Hallmark’s Louisburg rehabilitation team is special because of its innovative approach to rehabilitation that’s proven to be fun and effective.
Kathy Haffa, director of rehabilitation at the center, said her team’s goal is to get patients back on their feet, so they can return to their homes or live a better quality life at the center. Hallmark officials are waging an awareness campaign to let the public know that the Louisburg center, once thought of as a nursing home, is performing a much more active role in the community by providing rehabilitative care, including outpatient services, to residents of all ages so they can live more productive lives.
BEFORE THE award ceremony, Haffa works with Brandi Majors, a 32-year-old rural Osawatomie woman who was injured in a fall. Majors’ goal is to live life again without the aid of her walker. Majors scrunches her face as she concentrates on lifting her right arm as she remained balanced on her knees and left hand. After a few seconds, she accomplishes this task and then extends her leg. It’s a breakthrough in what Haffa and Majors hope will be many milestones to come as Majors strives to walk again.
After raising her arm, Majors lays across a large rubber ball as part of a dynamic balance activity.
“Balance is very critical to rehabilitation,” Haffa said. “Life is not two-dimensional, so it’s not enough just to get the patient back on her feet. You have to be able to regain your balance so you can maneuver around obstacles.”
Majors, who is currently staying at the center while she undergoes physical therapy, says afterward that her goal is to walk again in one month.
Haffa said she thinks Majors will make her goal. “I understand she likes to dance,” Haffa said, grinning. “We’ll work on it.”
IT’S NOT unusual to hear the music of Glenn Miller or Count Basie drifting down the hallway as you near the rehabilitation room at the center. Haffa and her staff often set rehabilitative tasks to the sound of swing from the Big Band era. That same morning, Haffa bats a large yellow balloon back and forth with an elderly woman while a Kings of Swing CD plays in the background. The elderly woman’s face brightens each time she keeps the balloon airborne.
“Most people don’t realize how far they extend when they hit a balloon; it increases their range of motion,” Haffa said.
Hallmark president Wortley smiles as he tours the rehabilitation room a few minutes later. He stops to look at a puppy poster hanging on the ceiling above a rehabilitation table. “It works in dentist offices, so why not?”
Haffa said the rehabilitation center would not work without the team atmosphere created by administrator Travis Houk and his staff at the center.
“What we’re trying to accomplish wouldn’t work without their help,” she said. “We are a family here.”
The Louisburg Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center is a 60-bed skilled nursing center that provides care for those recently disabled by illness or injury as well as individuals seeking long-term care and respite.
The Wellness unit is a dedicated area of the center providing the equipment, staff and facilities for individuals requiring short-term medical care. This 12-bed unit allows for care of individuals like Majors whose prognosis looks good for their return home or a lower level of care.
HAFFA, a licensed physical therapist, and Shelley Watts, a certified occupational therapist, are always looking for innovative ways to help patients. They once designed a program to help an 80-year-old man climb up into his farm tractor again. The pay off came several months later when Haffa was riding her horse and waved to the man as he drove past in his tractor.
Haffa and Watts, the only full-time employees of the rehabilitation team, are assisted regularly by therapists Sharon Burgmeier and Jennifer Cowdry and speech therapist Sharon McKnight, as well as several other therapists.
Haffa said she and Watts are always searching for items at garage sales which they can incorporate into their rehabilitation program.
Once, they found an automatic putting green, equipped with a machine that kicks the ball back upon a successful putt. Residents form a line to putt on golfing days at the center. The exercise promotes upper extremity and trunk mobility. On catfishing days, residents dangle toy fishing poles, with feathers as bait, above Cookie the cat’s head. The cat playfully swats at the feathers as the residents jerk on the rods.
“We try to make it fun,” Haffa said of the rehabilitation process. “If we’re bored, I know they are going to be bored.”