Rehabilitation
If you’re dealing with difficulties due to an injury, surgery, or a medical condition, the Rehabilitation Services department at Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital can help.
We use activity, exercise, education and hands-on care to help you regain your abilities so that you can get back to the things you enjoy.
We know that you can achieve the best outcome when you are motivated to achieve goals that are important to you. We understand that many conditions that challenge you physically also challenge you psychologically, so emotional support and coaching are important parts of the care we provide.
We offer physical, occupational and speech therapies with experienced providers, nearly all of whom have more than a decade on the job. We provide the only outpatient rehabilitation services in Chewelah in addition to providing care to patients who are hospitalized.
Some of the conditions we treat include:
- Arthritis
- Balance issues
- Concussion
- Chronic pain
- Dizziness
- Heart disease
- Injury to bone, joint or muscle
- Joint replacement and surgical repair to bones, muscles or tissues.
- Parkinson’s disease
- Stroke
- Swallowing difficulties
- Traumatic brain injury
- Urinary incontinence
At Providence St. Joseph Hospital, both inpatient and outpatient services are available. Our services include:
- Occupational therapy, including hand therapy
- Physical therapy, including pelvic floor rehabilitation, treatment of orthopedic and neurologic conditions, lymphedema management, post-concussion management and therapy for fall prevention and dizziness.
- Speech-language pathology for adults and children who have cognitive and communication difficulties
We offer inpatient services as soon as possible when you enter the hospital. Our focus is on helping you move well and complete activities like dressing, bathing and feeding.
The goal is to help make it possible for you to return home safely. If it isn’t the best option — at least right away — we help you get to the appropriate facility to continue your Rehabilitation.
Offering guidance and support to your family is an important part of our work. We want everyone to feel prepared to help you meet your care needs once you leave the hospital.
Many people have questions about outpatient rehab. Here are answers to common questions we receive.
Appointments usually run 45 minutes.
Movement and activity are key to improvement, so we encourage as much active participation as possible. Passive treatments, such as heat and massage, may feel good temporarily, but they aren’t long-term solutions. It is important for you to be an active part of your recovery, so we will give you a program that you can work on at home. We have found that patients who follow through with these activities have a quicker, more complete recovery.
We complete a thorough evaluation to determine if rehabilitation services are likely to help you. We have quite a few patients who arrive skeptical that we will be able to help and leave surprised about the progress they have made.
If you have had surgery, are trying to move in ways you haven’t moved for a while or haven’t been active, you may experience some discomfort with therapy. This is normal in many cases! We do our best to help you manage this discomfort throughout your treatment session.
Imaging tests don’t always identify problems or help us determine what’s most likely to help you, but that information can come out of a thorough evaluation.
We typically provide paperwork that we ask you to complete before your first visit. This helps us gather information about how your condition is impacting your life and clarifies your goals for treatment.
When you arrive, our front office staff will greet you. Then, a rehabilitation aide will escort you to the treatment room and assess your vital signs. You will then receive a full evaluation by your therapist. In this first session, we will set a plan of care based on our evaluation findings and your goals. We will set up further visits as needed to help you meet these goals. During each additional session, you will receive hands on treatment and will complete specific exercises or activities. You also will be given strategies and activities to work on outside of the therapy session that will help in your recovery.
You’ll be moving quite a bit during each visit, so it’s good to wear comfortable clothing.