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Ensigntherapy.com
29222 Rancho Viejo Rd, Ste 127
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
March 2021
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2020 was called the Year of the Nurse because it marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, but due to the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has actually extended the Year of the Nurse into 2021. As our COVID cases decline dramatically with patients and staff, we are seeing the Year of the Nurse embraced with renewed efforts to elevate our nurses as our therapy teams and nursing teams collaborate. One way we are doing it is through investing in the development of our CNAs.
Momentum Resources hosted a Skills Fair for CNAs (article by DNS Angie Reyes and DOR Paul Baloy below), and we have renewed RNA trainings happening in many markets. Bandera has called their RNA trainings “No Pressure, No Pain, No Problem” (article by Calli Carlson this month), and they are seeing exciting results to better our residents’ lives and reduce decline. Maryann Bowles and Susan Kopcinski in our Endura market are bringing therapy and nursing together to reduce skin issues in a program they call “Wild on Wounds.” We are also seeing more combined DOR/DNS market meetings happening to bring our clinical leaders closer. Our Excellence in Programming and Interdisciplinary Care (EPIC) trainings are up on the portal; these disease-specific programs are put together by our nurses and therapists across the organization to enhance our assessment and intervention skills with the best possible clinical care. Together we can make The Year of the Nurse one that achieves best-ever outcomes, culture, and retention!
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We Got Skills at The Hills
A Nursing and Rehabilitation Partnership and Collaboration
By Angelica Reyes RN, DNS and Paul Baloy OTD, OTR/L, DOR, The Hills Post Acute Care, Santa Ana, CA
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What is a nursing and rehabilitation partnership? Nursing is defined as a collaborative care of individuals that promotes overall health and prevents illnesses. Rehabilitation is the process of restoring and regaining the lost skills caused by an illness or injury.
Although nursing and therapy are two different disciplines, when both work together harmoniously, they become an effective and powerful tool that is deemed vital to our residents’ health advancement and recovery.
At The Hills, nursing and rehab departments collaborate on a daily basis to be able to provide an individualized resident centered care plan. We have developed an effective fall management system, wherein nursing and rehab teams visit residents at bedside for a more direct and involved plan of care, and diligently analyze and discuss which interventions will benefit the resident the most. Other recommendations are also solicited from the other members of the interdisciplinary team and continuously evaluated for their effectiveness.
In addition, we have recently conducted a successful CNA skills fair with the help and support of our Resource team, that encompasses the “customer second, passion for learning, and celebration” of the CAPLICO values. Read On...
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No Pressure – No Pain – No Problem
A Therapy and RNA Program
By Calli Carlson, OTR/L, DOR, North Mountain Medical & Rehab, Phoenix, AZ
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“Oh it’s just basic range of motion. That patient doesn’t require therapy anymore.” I’m embarrassed to think of how often I have said these words, and I wonder how many therapists may relate to this same perception.
Previously in our facility, patients who were non-responsive or minimally responsive were transitioned from our skilled physical and occupational therapy to restorative nursing programs for passive range of motion, typically for three days a week. Over time, we began to notice that patients were demonstrating difficulty maintaining their current range of motion, while restorative nursing was likewise reporting increased tone and increased difficulty working with our more medically complex patients.
For patients with complex brain and spinal cord injuries, hypertonicity can worsen with time causing an invariable decline in range of motion as well as increased difficulty for restorative members performing their range of motion treatments and increased difficulty for certified nursing assistants performing basic tasks such as dressing and peri care. With this in mind, the dialogue began to shift from therapy could be involved in these patient cases to therapy should be involved in these patient cases to provide the best possible outcomes and improve quality of life.
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Gratitude and Health
A Group Intervention Idea
by Sarah Scott, SLP, Pointe Meadows, Lehi, UT
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Click here for the presentation I used for group today. I used the dining room for more social distancing and wiped down and placed tables two together so a patient at either end would be 6 feet apart. I put up the projector and screen and used a speaker for volume. We addressed attention, orientation, memory, expressive and receptive communication, and reading aloud. The content was the health benefits of gratitude and how to practice it. We started with a gratitude quiz that several of the medical studies have used to measure results. We presented a brief video and reviewed the key points in visual and auditory form. There are retention and comprehension quizzes. We asked people to read and share their thoughts. We coordinated with activities and created a rainbow on the wall with "pots of gold." At the end of the session, we supported each person to write things they are grateful for on "gold coins," and we placed them on the wall by the pots of gold.
“Sarah, this is such a great SLP group intervention with a blend of cognitive and communication intervention along with an uplifting focus on gratitude. This would be really fun to share with more programs!” — Tamala Sammons, MA CCC/SLP, Therapy Resource
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Celebrating a Return to the
Dining Room
By Alison Vandeloo, OTR/L, DOR, Rock Creek of Ottawa, KS
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We are celebrating the re-opening of the dining room here at Rock Creek of Ottawa after a hiatus of almost one year! Our IDT collaborated to pull out all the stops and ensure infection control guidelines were being met while still allowing for as much socialization between the residents as possible. We have arranged for roommates to sit at the same table and non-roommates to sit socially distanced to provide visual and social cues associated with meal time. Since the dining room’s re-opening, we have seen an increase in consumption, a decrease in behaviors, a decrease in assistance with self-feeding, and major mood improvements (both staff and residents)! Here’s to moving forward and onward past COVID! |
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Slowly But Surely, Bringing Some Cheer Back to Our Residents with Some Mocktailing.
By Milena Milenkovic, MOT, OTR/L, DOR, Park View Post Acute, Santa Rosa, CA
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Laughter Can Be the Best Medicine
By Maya Matthews, SLP, Pointe Meadows, Lehi, UT
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I wanted to share a Speech Therapy group activity that we did earlier this week. The overall topic was the use of laughter to cope with stressful or emotional situations.
I started the group session by showing a video, which simply explains the benefits of laughter, and then we completed the activity questionnaire attached. I gave each resident an answer and I read the questions one at a time. The residents were asked to figure out which one of their answers best fit the question read. After, some of us shared some difficult situations that we may have had where we used laughter or jokes to cope or get through it. I gave each resident an answer and I read a list of questions one at a time. At the very end, I showed some clips from America's Funniest Home Videos. They all really enjoyed this activity, and it was an easy way to get everyone to participate while making some personal connections.
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Local Community Children Spreading the Love
By John Patrick Diaz, DPT, DOR, Magnolia Post Acute Care, El Cajon, CA
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We all know that the mental health of our residents has been directly (through a specific medical condition) or indirectly (via communal isolation or psychological stresses) affected by this pandemic. Any type of interaction, whether it be through Facetime, window visits, regular phone calls, or even texting our loved ones, makes a huge difference in getting them through their day. As part of Celebration and Loving One Another, Caitlin Dablow, SLP, and Jacalyn Leigh, COTA, guided a group of local community kids in creating Valentine’s Day cards for our residents at Magnolia Post Acute. The parents of the kids were so supportive in getting them together and designing simple but meaningful cards. Read On...
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Sensory Integration Coding
By Brian del Poso, OTR/L, CHC, RAC-CT and Tamala Sammons, MA, CCC-SLP,
Therapy Resources
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Sensory Integration (SI) Therapy was originally invented by OT, Jean Ayres, in the 1970s to help children with sensory processing problems. Although less prevalent, SI techniques and theory used to modulate the sensory and proprioceptive systems can also be used with the adult population.
We’ve had a few questions recently around the appropriate use of the 97533 Sensory Integration CPT code. In general, this is an allowable code and covered by our MACs. However, since we know SI is predominantly used with the pediatric population, if utilizing this code as part of therapy intervention with the adult population, it is important that we use evidence-based practice, research, and have clear supportive documentation to demonstrate that sensory processing/modulation is a cause of functional deficits and that the interventions being billed truly fall within SI intervention strategies. Read On...
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Feeling Blessed
By Jon Anderson, DPT, Therapy Resource
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I feel so blessed for this flower this morning. I feel like I helped save something from this record cold. It was looking so ragged the last few days, and I was worried it wasn’t going to make it. Then today out of nowhere, a flower popped up.
It was such a nice sight to see. Reminded me that even in the midst of a major challenge that anything is possible. Hope springs eternal!
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Compassionate Hearts
Half Marathon Run
By Dennis Baloy, Therapy Resource/DOR, and Paul Baloy, OTD, OTR/L , DOR
Flagstone - Momentum, CA
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Each mile, each step and each breath of today's half marathon is dedicated to all colleagues and their families who are currently affected by the pandemic. It might not be a lot, but somehow, we would like to let you know that all of you are in our thoughts all the way to the finish line. We’re sending this positive message of love and upliftment to everyone, especially Estella Castro and her family.
Running requires a growth mindset, with which you have to endure every mile all the way to the finish line. It’s rewarding to dedicate these highly disciplined activities to convey a sense of positivity, support and community spirit, especially during uncertain times. We have been through dark days but we can already see the light.
Let’s hold each other and brace through inevitable rough patches and turbulence all the way to some sense of a new better normal. Strength and love in numbers.
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A Little Cluster Love
By Dominic DeLaquil, Therapy Resource - Idaho/Nevada
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Jenny Sowers (pictured second from left) and the Therapy Team at McCall Rehab, McCall, ID |
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The DORs in the two Western Idaho/Nevada clusters are a tight-knit group that believe in helping each other succeed. After a recent market meeting, the DOR from McCall Rehab, Jenny Sowers, sent an impromptu text to her fellow DORs. This text exemplifies the power of the cluster model to help each individual facility thrive:
As the "New DOR on the block," I wanted to say thank you to ALL of you. I was nervous a year ago. You all are so tight and I have to admit it was a wee bit intimidating. Thank you for taking me into the fold and mentoring me. I feel like having you in my corner has given me the tools and support I need to grow and help our building and group succeed. Looking forward to the year ahead and maybe seeing some smiling faces in the flesh!!!😊
Jenny’s cluster partners replied with various encouraging and affectionate comments of their own, and the exchange ended like this:
Jenny: You guys make me want to cry. If I walk out in the snow storm, it’ll just look like melted flakes.
Whitney: And an icy face!!! Don’t do it!!
Thank you, Jenny, for being extraordinary and for celebrating your partners! And thank you, Infinity and Lady Luck DORs, for living CAPLICO, and making each other, your facilities, your market and the entire organization better!
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The Importance of Succession Planning By Dominic DeLaquil, Therapy Resource - Idaho/Nevada
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Kristen Weaver (pictured Left) was the DOR at Rosewood Rehabilitation when an opportunity to venture to a new acquisition became available. As excited as we were to have a proven leader help develop the therapy program at the new acquisition, we also knew that it was important that her current facility didn’t lose any ground with her transition. However, it became very clear that this would not be an issue. Kristen had been developing her ADOR, Whitney Wilding (pictured Right), long before the acquisition was an opportunity. The best time to develop leaders and identify a succession plan is when you are not planning on going anywhere. This allows time to really develop people and support their successes. Christopher Christensen, Executive Chairman and Founder of the Ensign Group, recently spoke at length about the importance of succession planning, and in the book, Good to Great, succession planning is identified as one of the qualities of Level 5 leaders.
Kristen moved on to help Meadowview successfully integrate into the Pennant ID/NV market, and because of her leadership and ownership was given the recognition of CTO not long after. Meanwhile back at Rosewood, Whitney had the opportunity to take a therapy program to another level under her leadership and just recently was also recognized as CTO. Both of these solid leaders are still working together as cluster partners and are continuing to grow additional leaders.
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Strength Training for the Respiratory System: SLP Case Study at Olympia
By Suzanne Estebo Simko, M.S. CCC-SLP, Olympia Transitional Care, Olympia, WA
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Kathy came to us in early February 2021 due to progressive weakness. When she first arrived at OTC, although she was alert, she had difficulty having the energy to even keep her eyes open. Kathy stated she was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1992, but was able to maintain her productive life. After her diagnosis, she continued to work for an additional 10 years as an executive assistant for the WA Army and National Guard. She stated she and her husband are very social in nature and loved to entertain.
During her initial speech evaluation, Kathy was concerned about her vocal volume being recently diminished. She shared that she used to “sing all the time...in the shower, choir, car, and karaoke nights,” and now, “I squeak out.” It also upset her that her condition was affecting communication with loved ones: “My husband can’t understand me at all when I call him on the phone from here,” she said. Read On...
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Partnering with Home Health
to Build an OP Business
By Kelly Alvord, Therapy Resource, Sunstone-Utah
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In the Sunstone market, as we continue to partner with ALF to enhance Outpatient (OP) business, a lot of emphasis has been put on strengthening partnerships with Home Health providers versus seeing them as competition. This partnership has led to increased referrals for OP services and OP growth. Here are some insights that the DORs have found helpful.
From Kirk Player, DOR Pinnacle
As far as PDGM goes from a HH agencies prospective:
- It benefits the agencies to get their patients better with as few visits as possible, including therapy. This is basically a 180 turn from the previous HH payment model.
- It also benefits the agencies to have LOS around 40 days when appropriate and possible. This allows them to enter the second 30-day period but still maintain visits to only those necessary.
- We realized that in-home or in ALF outpatient therapy can help with both above points by allowing a safe d/c sooner by continuing and likely increasing the frequency of skilled therapy.
- This keeps a skilled clinician in with the patient to observe and assess any change of condition, which reduces readmissions.
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It also keeps the patient progressing with functional mobility and reduces other adverse events such as falls. Read On...
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Best in Class at
Pointe Meadows
Submitted by Vicki Warren, Director of Clinical Services, Sunstone-Utah
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Congratulations Pointe Meadows Team for achieving Best In Class for Therapy Services! We THANK YOU for the great things you are doing for our residents and Pointe Meadows! Read below from Pinnacle Quality Insight:
Over the course of the last twelve months, Pinnacle Quality Insight, a nationally recognized customer satisfaction firm, has interviewed the customers of Pointe Meadows Health And Rehabilitation regarding their satisfaction levels.
Customers were asked to evaluate several aspects of their received services. From the results of these interviews, Pinnacle has determined that Pointe Meadows Health And Rehabilitation has qualified for a Pinnacle Customer Experience Award™ in the following service area:
Professional Therapy Services
The Customer Experience Award™ is awarded to care providers who have achieved best-in-class customer satisfaction standards within their peer group. Pinnacle congratulates the staff of Pointe Meadows Health and Rehabilitation for achieving this honor. Chris Magleby, CEO, Pinnacle Quality Insight
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Elyse Matson is Famous!
By Sam Baxter, Therapy Resource, Flagstone SD-CA
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Building an ALF Relationship
Submitted by Barbara Mohrle, Therapy Resource, Keystone North, TX
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I just had to share and brag on Cara Koepsel, DOR, and Golden Acres a bit! Cara had a marketing meeting with a family independently owned ALF that is about 10 minutes away from Golden Acres where she was able to share the amazing things her team could bring to their residents. She and her team went over there this week and were able to start seeing residents, and the email from the facility’s director below says it all!
Hey Cara!
Just wanted to say that on behalf of all of us here at Abba, thanks a bunch for a great first week to kick all of this off.
Your staff did an awesome job with our residents. I think not only is it doing great for their quality of life, there's definitely a morale boost that we feel — not only by simply having you all here but also by your staff's energy. My mom and I (speaking colloquially, ha) were both really impressed with how they worked with our residents. Lots of care, lots of competence, lots of attentive time given. That means a ton. That sort of work ethic certainly reflects good leadership and values.
Attaching the pics below by the way; I didn't think of it but maybe you, your team, or your business manager could use it. Sorry for the shoddy file naming conventions.
Looking forward to working with you guys more in the future, and thank you again for approaching us about this. Please pass on the thanks to your team. Let us know if you ever need anything from us, and we'll see you guys next week!
John
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John Villapando | Director of Business Development, Abba Care Assisted Living | "This is Home."
The facility wanted a picture of their new therapy team for their family newsletter. Thank you, Cara, for always figuring out a way to make it happen, and happen in an awesome way, too!
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Monday, March 8, 2021: International Women’s Day!
Millennium Post Acute Rehabilitation, West Columbia, South Carolina
Submitted by Heather Bjernudd, Therapy & PACC Resource, Monument-SC
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Some inspirational messages and advice from the ladies of Millennium:
“She remembered who she was and the game changed”
“Tiny but mighty!”
“Well-behaved women seldom make history”
“A strong woman looks a challenge in the eye and gives it a wink”
“Self-love is the best love!”
“Be the reason someone smiles today”
“Acknowledge and validate every woman’s struggle! Even if they’re different than yours”
“We are strong, we are kind, we are important!”
“Darling, you are magic”
“We are queens, let’s wear our crowns!”
“Even though you fed up, you gotta keep your head up”
“You are enough!”
“We are queens, let’s lift each other up!”
“The only time you fail is when you fall down and stay down”
“We are bold and beautiful”
“Here’s to strong women. May we know them, may we raise them, may we be them”
“Every woman’s success should be an inspiration to another. We’re strongest when we cheer each other on”
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Recognizing "True Ownership"
Sharon Merritt, TPM
Opus Post Acute Rehabilitation, West Columbia, South Carolina
Submitted by Heather Bjernudd, Therapy & PACC Resource, Monument-SC
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On Saturday, March 6, Sharon Merritt, TPM at Opus, and her two kids decided to head to the facility and plant some flowers. With full transparency, Culture at Opus is something that is a work in progress and a big focus right now. Sharon is a bright star that continues to show her LOVE for Opus! It’s the “little” things that make a HUGE difference. Look how beautiful the entrance looks now! |
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A New System for IDDSI
By Sarah Scott, MS CCC SLP, Pointe Meadows, Lehi, UT
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On our last call, IDDSI implementation was a shared struggle. With the help of our students and in collaboration with nursing and dietary, we have implemented a new system for IDDSI consistency. On the next call, we can report on any success or challenges with our system.
We have had several inservices with Nursing across the last two weeks. Every nurse will attend training. We completed training with the dietary staff. Each training was an hour long and covered IDDSI, the modified liquids and solids, preparation and testing.
We created a patient identification system for diet modifications. We used the IDDSI colors and round dot stickers for each level in addition to a water droplet sticker for a water protocol. We are placing dots on the doors for easier in-room identification and on a wrist band, which we are placing on the patient's walker and/or wheelchair for easier identification outside the room and in the dining room. Read On...
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Patient Success at Shea
By Jada Exstrom, PT, DOR, Shea Post Acute Care, Scottsdale, AZ
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Meet Charles—Charles came to Shea Post Acute Rehab Center after suffering several falls in which he hit his head and suffered multiple fractures, contusions and hematomas. As a result of the multiple falls, he was met with confusion and memory deficits, and he had severe restrictions and limitations both mentally and physically, which impacted his progression in rehab.
Due to his medical complexities, confusion and high risk for falls, he ultimately required one-on-one care and attention, including frequent redirection and reorientation. Due to his deficits and decreased safety and insight, case management worked diligently on alternative discharge planning, including discharge to a group home, ALF, or LTC, for a higher level of care. But, much to our dismay, Charles had other plans. He was adamant about returning home and being reunited with his cats. Read On...
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Celebrating Our New CTO's |
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The CTO (Chief Therapy Officer) designation is the highest designation a therapy leader in the organization can receive. It is a tall order to be in this elite club. We congratulate our elite group of leaders! |
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Announcing Keystone's Newest Chief Therapy Officers
Submitted by Jon Anderson, DPT, Therapy Resource
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Vanessa Munoz, Veranda Health & Rehab
Is Ensign in you? If there ever was someone who bled CAPLICO it would be Vanessa Munoz, TPM at Veranda Health & Rehab. She is a true embodiment of our CAPLICO culture. Vanessa began her employment at Veranda 10-plus years ago, starting as a contract PTA with Rehab Care, then eventually transitioning to an in-house therapist. She was the natural selection to lead the team when the previous CTO/DOR left to become an ED. Vanessa quickly caught on and became a driver and an integral part of the IDT team that facilitates the processes to keep the facility operating optimally; however, with that said, she is modest and attributes Veranda’s therapy team’s accomplishments to having the best people in the industry. Read On...
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Andy Cisneros, Westover Hills
Andy Cisneros, PTA, DOR joined us in 2016 via an acquisition at Legend Oaks West San Antonio as the DOR. While at Legend Oaks West San Antonio, Andy was a trailblazer in finding ways to improve length of stay while maintaining great outcomes with our managed care patients, helping to solidify their success with metrics that resulted in the facility being designated as a facility of choice. Andy was instrumental in introducing a new incontinence program, PTNM (percutaneous tibial neuromodulation), to the nursing home sector and was part of an initial pilot program to demonstrate its effective outcomes with the LTC population, which helped fuel this program being used all over the organization as a way to better treat incontinence. Beyond this facility, Andy took ownership in the cluster by ensuring no one missed a resource when capturing Medicaid CMI (case mix index), and the trainings/tools he developed resulted in a growth of >10% in the cluster of under-captured resources. Read On...
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Jayna Owens, Legend New Braunfels
Some leaders dream about cutting edge, culture change, and progressive innovative treatments, and people like Jayna Owens, SLP, DOR, make dreams a reality. Jayna began working for Legend Oaks-New Braunfels in the fall of 2015 and began her journey with us when the building was acquired in 2016. Jayna was inspired by our core values of intelligent risk taking and passion for learning. She worked as the Speech Therapy team lead, moving up to ADOR, and later taking over as the Director of Rehab.
During this time, she took a special interest in long-term care programming and dementia design. Jayna was one of the first in our company to write multiple grants to fund her new therapy programs and vision of changing dementia care. Read On...
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Marci Williams, Wisteria Place
When Marci put her mind to becoming a Physical Therapist, it was no easy task. Already a mother to her precious son Braiden, born with special needs, she was set to leave Abilene and head to Dallas for her last clinical rotation. When Marci learned that Braiden would need to have major surgery and she would be needed at home, she changed her last clinical rotation from Dallas to Abilene and started her rotation at Wisteria in October of 2013. Wisteria became part of the Keystone family in January 2014, and Marci accepted a full-time PT position with Wisteria in Feb 2014. With less than two years of clinical experience, Marci was promoted to DOR at Wisteria, and she has been building and growing the department there ever since. Read On...
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Roohi Kapoor, Mason Creek
Roohi is a Physical Therapist by trade and supports our Mason Creek facility as the Director of Rehab. Roohi began as a staff PT at Misty Willow in 2017 before transitioning to become the DOR at Mason Creek in 2019. Before I can share the details of her achievements in her role as DOR, you must get a grasp of who she is beyond the role. Roohi is in the process of completing her transitional Doctorate in Physical Therapy. You would have no idea that she is balancing this level of academic growth on top of her many responsibilities. At the start of Roohi’s transition to DOR, she was challenged to grow long-term care programming and build cultural unity within the facility. To say she has accomplished that goal, and so many others, is an understatement. Yes, her metrics rank amongst the highest in the organization from PNSD, CPM, and Productivity, but the true measure of her success is the actionable execution of clinical programs. She empowers her OT and SLP to grow dementia care with purposeful intent, and she partners with her fellow PT to deliver PTNM (incontinence program). Read On...
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Charlie Costa, Legend Garland
Charlie Costa, PT, is the DOR at Legend Oaks Garland. Upon acquisition, this facility was struggling, and unfortunately continued to do so for a while. But through all the struggles, the shining light was always Charlie and his Therapy team. While all other metrics were trending in the wrong direction, Therapy was steadily growing stronger and better. Charlie was able to truly balance the financial responsibilities of the facility and the clinical needs of the patients, and he has been instrumental to Garland’s rise to the top of the market. Charlie has a passion for marketing, and he can often be found working with nearby facilities, home health companies and doctor’s offices to help in census development. Charlie is always up for a challenge; he is the first to introduce a new initiative. When we re-introduced group and concurrent modalities of treatment, Charlie was one of the first in Keystone to train his team and really show us all what a difference this mode of efficiency can make. He was one of our first DORs to embrace the value of DOR treatment in building morale with his team, and he loves to train and mentor students; you never walk into the department without seeing someone learning something new. Read On...
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Congratulations Jeremy McCorristin!
Submitted by Gary McGiven, Therapy Resource, Milestone-Utah
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Jeremy (pictured R) with Gary McGiven (L), has been the Director of Rehab at Holladay Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Utah, for five years. He inherited a team that was recognized recurrently for the Milestone therapy award. Through Jeremy’s leadership, the team continues to improve and achieve more and more. Jeremy has been very innovative in his approach with the residents at Holladay. He is always looking for ways to improve the quality of life for his residents. He teaches Tai Chi classes; he has LSVT Big and Loud capabilities that he uses in the facility and for patients in the community (when not restricted by a pandemic). He has also partnered in the community to provide Tai Chi classes with pre- and post-standardized testing to increase awareness of interventions for those with Parkinson’s disease.
Jeremy is a huge asset to his therapy team, facility, cluster, and market. This award is well-deserved. Thanks, Jeremy!
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Congratulations Whitney Wilding!
Submitted by Tamala Sammons, M.A., CCC-SLP, Therapy Resource
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Whitney is passionate, dedicated, hard-working and an integral part of the team at Rosewood.
She contributes to the success of Rosewood in a number of ways. She works closely and cooperatively with Nursing, MDS and the BOM to be on top of PDPM. In fact, she was very involved in trainings in 2019 in preparation for PDPM and has been integral in the PDPM process at Rosewood from the onset.
She has built a cohesive, creative and vibrant rehab team that serves the residents at Rosewood. Rosewood has traditionally had more of a skilled focus, but under Whitney’s leadership, they have balanced that out with a dramatic increase in their long-term care therapy over the past year. This was a definite goal for Whitney, and she provided education to her team and kept working with them to turn the flywheel of more LTC programming. The Rosewood Rehab team now routinely has a per non-skilled day part B revenue in excess of $30, demonstrating their creative and passionate ability to provide therapy services to their LTC family. Read On...
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Congratulations Daisy Aranguren!
Submitted by Lito Ortiz, Therapy Resource/DOR, Flagstone-Momentum, CA
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It’s my honor to present our newest Chief Therapy Officer, Daisy Aranguren, Director of Rehabilitation at The Orchard Post-Acute Care and Therapy Resource for Momentum. Daisy has been a strong therapy leader within the organization over the past 18 years. Daisy lives the Ensign Culture, and she is driven to help patients, her team, and others succeed and reach their potential. Daisy’s leadership and ownership have helped her and her team achieve incredible results. She’s been with us for 18 years.
Daisy is also one of the elite therapy leaders in the company who has attended the Therapy Summit. Daisy is an integral part of their IDT team. She promotes a positive culture and helps provide great evidence-based outcomes by promoting standardized tests and individualized care and providing the supporting documentation for justification of therapy services. Their therapy team has consistently achieved great clinical and financial outcomes. Orchard’s therapy turnover rate is one of the lowest in the company, and most of our therapists have been at Orchard for at least five years.
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Congratulations and Best Wishes for a Happy, Healthy Retirement
Submitted by Kelly Schwarz, Therapy Resource-AZ
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Tim Riter, TPM at Bella Vita of Glendale, AZ, retired as Therapy Leader in February. Many of you might remember Tim from his amazing Culture, and close resemblance to another loving, generous, passionate person we all love — Santa Claus!
Tim started his role at Bella Vita in 2008. During his time as TPM, Tim and his team celebrated capturing five Ensign Flags, being chosen to participate in three Therapy Leadership Summits in Sedona, and he received the honor of CTO on September 20, 2019.
In his “spare time” around the holidays, Tim volunteers as the Man in Red and spends his vacation days, weekends, etc., in local hospitals, schools and charity events, making children and adults smile and realize the true meaning of giving. He even goes into work on his day off every year to provide the residents of Bella Vita with a memorable experience, this year being no different, when he was the only “visitor” they could have.
Tim will be missed by many, and his spirit will continue to live on!
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