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The Rehabilitation Institute at Memorial University Medical Center offers both inpatient and outpatient
programs for people with spinal cord injuries. The programs include
comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatment to address medical, physical,
and psychological needs; education and training to meet family needs;
and recommendations for home and work area modifications. We encourage you to view our patient outcomes.
Our program is especially beneficial to people with:
- Traumatic spinal cord injury
- Non-traumatic spinal cord injury (spinal cord infarction, aneurysm)
- Guillain-Barre syndrome
- Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or
ALS)
- Spinal tumor
- Multiple sclerosis, post-polio syndrome, and other related
disorders
Led by a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation,
the spinal cord injury team works closely with the patient and his or her family. Together, they develop a plan
to facilitate the patient's return to a productive life.
Within one week of the patient’s
admission to the program, the treatment team, patient, and family discuss
a care plan, determine goals, set a potential discharge date, and begin
planning for the patient’s return home. After the initial conference,
the team meets weekly to ensure the patient's continued progress.
An individual spinal cord injury treatment program might
include the following:
- Daily spinal cord injury education
- Therapies for improving strength, endurance, and mobility
- Retraining in cooking, cleaning, and housekeeping
- Strengthening and conditioning exercises in our pool
- Training to overcome or compensate for speech, language, or
cognitive difficulties
- Treatment of swallowing disorders
- Independent living skills training
- Family conferences, involvement, and counseling
- Referral to vocational rehabilitation services
- Referral to driving therapy program for evaluation and re-training
- Home assessments, as needed, to recommend adaptive equipment
and placement of
- ramps and railings
- Home exercise program
- Discharge planning
As the discharge date nears, we encourage many patients to
take an overnight pass and return to their home or community setting
and practice the functional skills they've learned in therapy. Family members receive hands-on instruction on how
to care for a loved one with a spinal cord injury.
Outpatient Day Rehabilitation Program
The outpatient day rehabilitation program is a post-acute service
that provides an opportunity for patients to return to their home and
family while continuing to receive intensive rehabilitation. The program
is unique in that it provides a transitional phase from the hospital
to community and home re-entry.
Under the coordination of a rehabilitation nurse, patients
receive outpatient procedures and services such as occupational,
physical, recreational, and speech therapies; psychology;
and social work. Day
rehabilitation’s major emphasis is on the interaction of these
therapies with respect to the patient's long-term needs.
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