Yuma Rehab Hospital awarded Excellency recognition

For people who have had strokes and want quality care, they can find it right here in Yuma.

The Yuma Rehabilitation Hospital, 901 W. 24th St., was recently named one of 15 HealthSouth hospitals to be recognized as a Stroke Rehabilitation Center of Excellence.

"Meeting the criteria to become a Stroke Center of Excellence means we have achieved something that highlights the accomplishments of what we do here at the hospital, and notes we exceed what the established benchmarks are for a rehab hospital," said Ellen Hamilton, marketing director for the rehab center.

Some of those benchmarks include the program being led by a board-certified physician with expertise and specialized training in stroke. The hospital's medical staff includes specialty physicians in the areas of neurology, cardiology, gastroenterology, urology and pulmonary and internal medicine.

"Experience in working with stroke patients is critical," said Dr. Ron Bonfiglio, medical director at the Yuma Rehabilitation Hospital. "The side-effects from stroke are not always visible; many time they are cognitive resulting in behavioral changes, which makes it hard for family members to cope. A matter that is very important to us is to fully include the family of the person involved.

"We really want to get families out of crisis mode, which happens when a loved one suffers from a stroke. We collaborate with the main hospital, so if a person comes to the ER, the hospital will initiate crisis management so by the time they get here to the rehab hospital, we'll also facilitate crisis management. If you don't get the patient and family members out of crisis mode they will not learn. They will be more focused on trying to adapt to the acute changes instead of thinking short-term to long-term. That's very important to us, and another reason for being named a Stroke Center Center of Excellence," he said.

Cal Zimmerman, lead physical therapist for the rehab hospital said that on average each patient in the 41-bed facility has three hours of therapy a day, ranging from speech, occupation and physical. But they also work on re-configuring the brain, which can be damaged after a stroke, resulting in misfiring brain signals.

"The Neuro-Ifra is a technique for normalizing movement patterns," Zimmerman said. "Patients that have had a stroke will try to compensate and move, as best they can, with the parts of their bodies that still work.

"Our job as physical therapists is to encourage their patterns to be normal and function, as much as possible, like they used to before the stroke. We use it as a means to re-wire the brain in a way. If they can't move their leg, and physically nothing is wrong with the leg but the problem is they can't get the signal from the brain to that part of the body, our job is to make the limb move like it used to, repetitiously. This way their brain will find a new way to get the signal from their brain down to their leg. Usually, with some exceptions, their limb will do what we want it to do, they just can't do it on their own."

The physical therapists find the techniques to control the patients' limbs, control their posture and movement so that while they are moving, getting up or re-learning how to do something, they are doing it correctly.

"With our new techniques in physical therapy, we would rather have a person move 10 feet correctly than moving 100 feet dragging a leg or hopping, as long as they do it with normal gate mechanics like they used to. Same thing applies with putting on a shirt, or feeding themselves. As they are relearning how to do things, we want them to do it correctly. The more things we can do to normalize their movement pattern, the better results we get," Zimmerman said.

HealthSouth Stroke Rehabilitation Centers of Excellence employ treatment teams of specially trained clinicians in the area of physical, occupational and speech therapies, in addition to nursing.

Occupation therapy involves retraining the upper limbs, dealing mainly with the arms and activities of daily living, or ADL. That includes feeding, grooming, bathing, toileting, upper and lower body dressing and management of a brace worn either on the arms or legs and how to take them off and properly put them back on.

"We have proven patient outcomes for the treatment of stroke. We can help people in Yuma achieve the most complete recovery possible. Even years after the stroke, we have new technology, people that are constantly training on new technology and we are able to serve the community and committed to do that," Hamilton said.

Bonfiglio had his medical training in Ohio and his residency in Chicago at Loyola University. He has held practices in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Missouri. He is also a board-certified rehabilitation doctor.

"We want everything to flow as nicely as possible for our patients. There are going to be small bumps in the road, but we want to smooth those out and make sure the patient and their family know that they are not isolated and all alone when trying to deal with different issues," he said.

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Stefani Guerrero Soucy can be reached at SSoucy@yumasun.com or 539-6857.