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Physical Therapist, Avon Rehab Services
Occupational Therapist, Avon Rehab Services
Honoree, Non-Physician
Physical rehab specialists aren’t often faced with life-threatening emergencies, but the team at Avon Rehab Services suspected that a patient with cerebral palsy was in trouble when she missed two appointments within four days without calling.
Physical therapist Kayla Weaver and occupational therapist Laura Mason agreed that the circumstances were alarming. During their busy day, the receptionist kept the situation on their radar by reminding them that she didn’t feel good about it. When the patient didn’t return their calls, they turned to the emergency contact. That person declined to check on the patient.
Weaver remembered that the patient had talked about a cousin. The team was able to track her down before it was too late. The relative went to the patient’s house and found her on the floor with a broken cell phone, unable to pull herself up after a fall. She hadn’t had food for four days but had been able to reach something to drink.
Mason said Life Alert doesn’t work at the patient’s home because it doesn’t have WiFi.
Luckily, the only acute repercussion was muscle loss, Weaver and Mason said. The patient stayed in the hospital for three days while the medical staff reintroduced food to her system. Then she was released.
“I feel like she deserves this award because her reaction to everything was so gracious,” Weaver said. “She said she had confidence that God would bring his angels if she kept praying.”
Weaver credited the rescue to the one-on-one attention she and Mason can give to patients at Avon Rehab Services, part of Hendricks Regional Health.
“[That’s] one reason I like Hendricks,” Weaver said. “Other places can see two or three people at a time. With one-on-one, the patient gets the best care, and we can learn things about them. That’s how I knew about her cousin.”
The personal attention was valuable when the patient returned to rehab and had to get on the floor to continue to work on her mobility. It took her back to the traumatic fall. But Weaver and Mason worked through the emotions with her, and she has set a goal of being able to stand up on her own if it happens again.
Both Weaver and Mason believe the culture of caring throughout Hendricks Regional Health shapes the way they look out for patients. Hendricks encourages the same attitude among its staff with a program called Motivosity, designed to allow employees to send kudos to co-workers.•
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