|
Therapy Management Services: We'll take you higher!
 Blue Sky Therapy offers a collaborative effort in helping our partners stay on top of the regulatory and industry changes and challenges, maximize patient outcomes and increase profitability. As with everything we do, we work in harmony with partner facilities to address their needs.
The work with our partners begins with our staff. Our full time recruitment department attracts and retains top talent with competitive salaries, flexible hours and immediate health coverage. Our therapy team continually receives training through in-house education programs at the Blue Sky Institute. Our 85% retention rate helps insure a personal and productive partnership with all of our client facilities.
With each client facility we assign Area Managers and Site Supervisors. These experienced professionals oversee care, screening, planning, tracking and clinically manage the entire therapy program. What's more, our managers extend a guiding hand in the management program with effective marketing and full-week therapy coverage as needed.
Area Manager
- Hires, trains and supports our Site Supervisors and therapy team
- Oversees implementation of site customized clinical and operational best practices
- In charge of Customer Service
- Visits with facility administration routinely to review program commitment, accomplishments and establish new goals
Site Supervisor
- Dedicated to program management
- Oversees care, screening, planning and tracking
- Partners with MDS to coordinate therapy delivery and capture optimal
RUG levels
- Provides census development support
- Assists with facility marketing
- Actively participates in facility meetings
- Restorative nursing programs
- Documentation compliance
- Coordinates staffing needs of facility, including weekend coverage as clinically needed
- In- services to facility staff
- Completes pre-admission assessments for therapy patients
Census Development and Marketing
Blue sky area managers and site supervisors are given the time they need to develop relationships with local physicians and discharge planners. This continuity and communication helps build a great reputation and census. Blue Sky also raises awareness of therapy services within the facility, among the staff and residents and in the community through special projects and presentations.
"Our core values of patient-driven quality, excellence and integrity drive us in everything we do. In fact, as our name implies, our overriding goal is to provide our clients and those they serve with a 'Sky's the Limit' approach to ensuring quality." Renée B. Halfhill
Physical Therapy
 Our physical therapy programs are designed to restore functional mobility, strength and endurance while alleviating pain, loss of motion or lack of coordination. Our goal is to improve areas of dysfunction, increase strength and flexibility while promoting wellness and prevention. We are devoted to maximizing patient outcomes. We understand that attitude will determine the outcome of each session. Therefore every therapy session begins with a hands on interactive massage provided by our therapists while progress to date and session goals are discussed and reviewed. It has proven to be a well received gesture, as it initiates honest conversation and the feeling of being cared about as much as being cared for.
"Blue Sky therapists truly had a love for their job, and when you have love it truly reflects in your work." Janice Murray: Resident of Shepherd of the Valley from 2006 to 2008, when she returned home against all odds.
Top of Page
Occupational Therapy
 Our occupational therapy program assists in daily life functions. Our goal is to help our patients restore function and regain desired independence in order to live productive lives. From activities of daily living to using the computer, we customize our treatment programs to help our patients optimize their performances in daily life, home management leisure and more. We offer comprehensive home and job site evaluations and guidance for family members. We treat patients with physical and cognitive challenges in order to improve activities of daily living. For a patient with a physical disability we concentrate first on dressing, grooming, bathing and eating. Once capable we then work on integrating that individual into the world by assisting them with tasks required for education, living alone or seeking employment. For a patient with mental challenges such as dementia or Alzheimer's we develop skills to help that individual maintain independence for as long as they possibly can.
"When we first brought my mother in she just sat. It made us all feel worse. The she began her therapy and I really think she enjoyed all the attention. Soon she was up and walking, enjoying the company, getting stronger every day." Family
Top of Page
Speech Therapy
 Using the tools of evaluation and patient specific treatment programs, Blue Sky's speech-language pathologists will assess, diagnose and treat various communication, voice, swallowing and cognitive disorders. We work with patients who cannot speak clearly or at all, who have speech rhythm and fluency problems, or who may have had a stroke and have acquired oral motor problems that have compromised their eating, speaking and swallowing, We also service patients with related neurogenic speech and language impairments, laryngectomy, Alzheimer's and hearing impairment.
Blue Sky offers the following speech therapy programs:
- Dysarthia
- Aphasia
- Dysphagia
- Deficits in thought processing/language
- Blue Sky Speech-Language Pathologists use Vital Stim Technology
"My Grampa used to get mad when he tried to talk to me. I used to say I could understand him so he wouldn't be sad. Now we talk like we used to." Grandchild
Top of Page
Blue Sky Outpatient Therapy
 Blue Sky opened its outpatient facility doors in March of 2008. Our first facility offers spine therapy, physical therapy, aquatic therapy, sarcopenia prevention and wellness classes. All instructors are experienced licensed therapists with a great passion for re-educating all ages in order to prevent decline and dysfunction.
Blue Sky Outpatient offers on site aquatics, resistance training, weight bearing exercise, balance and co-ordination exercises, prosthetic and orthotic training. After evaluation, a history check and testing, our Home Exercise Programs are written, taught and monitored strictly by the therapist. It is a collaborative effort with a united goal-- results.
We treat individuals with musculoskeletal disorders such as back and neck strains or knee injuries, those who have suffered a work related injury, post surgical patients, orthopedic patients, and those with neurological deficits such as stroke patients. Our goal is to restore strength, range of motion, balance and function.
"Blue Sky Outpatient Therapy offers aquatic therapy. Aquatic therapy is beneficial because it de-weights the spinal and joint forces while still allowing the patient to move freely and strengthen the joints and muscles."
Local Physician
 "After my accident I thought I would never get out of that chair. The doctor thought my shoulder was shattered. The therapist found it lodged in. After 6 months I was using my arm again. My knee got stronger too and now I never miss my walks with my little Nina." Outpatient Patient
The Blue Sky Outpatient Facility, located in Warren Ohio also offers sports specific training, speed training, and fitness classes. Athletes take part in one on one training with trained licensed therapists in order to maximize speed, increase elastic strength and improve speed endurance.
"I learned a lot of great things from the therapists at Blue Sky. I was so impressed with their knowledge, even things like nutrition and stretching. In the end I was faster and more importantly, smarter."
Alex Zordich, high school quarterback
Top of Page
The Wellness Program
Why should we be concerned with our physical activity levels, ability and capacity? Because strength, flexibility and endurance all naturally decline with age. As a therapist it is sad to see so many idle patients that may have led productive lives well into their 70's and beyond. Our decline in flexibility begins as young as ten, our physical abilities begin to degenerate at twenty and rapid deterioration begins at forty. In other words it is never too early or too late to make changes.
We created the Wellness Program to help individuals bypass the pitfall of aging. Our program is designed to change the way all ages think, eat, exercise and live.
 Resistance Training- Strength Training
- Flexibility
- Stretching
- Balance
- Cardiovascular
- Mindset
Mindset and Wellness
By understanding that the aging process can be interrupted with an increase in quality functional ability, we can begin to make changes. The power of believing in a program can change the way you embrace life at all ages.
By participating in our wellness program, not only will your patients increase their flexibility, strength, balance and endurance, they will improve their self-image as well. As a therapist, typical complaints made by the elderly and middle-aged are pain, stiffness and increased incidents of falling. Yet, they also acknowledge a change in body image and low self esteem. While therapists can treat the physical disabilities, the emotional repercussions of a failing body cannot be ignored. A poor mental state can lead to isolation and that can become very dangerous. At Blue Sky we believe in the engagement theory. One that encourages participation, productivity and social involvement by maintaining a high functioning level. There is evidence that the normal aging process is determined more by how we treat our bodies than by genetics. No matter how fantastic your genes are, the simple fact is, inactivity leads to muscle loss and decreased mobility, which then translates into decreased mobility.
When our physical abilities begin to decline, our mental abilities break down too.
Strength and Wellness
Resistance training is the key for gaining strength. Strength training is the key to delaying the early onset of physical decline and corresponding loss of muscle mass. When we strength train, we send signals to our muscles that are being challenged. This challenge initiates a host of responses from repairing and increasing muscle cells, to increased blood flow and finally increased bone density. As a reward, we experience the ability to move more efficiently and effectively. Added strength increases self-esteem and an overall sense of well-being which promotes more rewarding socialization and community participation.
Flexibility and Wellness
Flexibility is a key component to functional movement. Decreased flexibility is a component of ³normal aging². As we age, we typically experience more aches and pains for a variety of reasons. We realize it¹s no longer easy to move in the morning, get out of a chair, reach into a cupboard and the list goes on. It is human nature to avoid discomfort. When it hurts, we alter our activities and perform less. We make changes in our environment to make things easier. We get dropped off at the door instead of walking. We have people carry items we could and should carry ourselves. We stop performing everyday tasks, because we accept that we cannot. Many times after strenuous activity, we feel sore and achy. The best way to decrease such stiffening is to stretch regularly. Stretching will help eliminate post exercise soreness and stiffness by taking all the joints through their normal full range of motion.
Balance and Wellness
 A common complaint of seniors is loss of balance or simply put, falling. As we age, there are many factors that can affect our balance. A decrease in muscle tissue, causing progressive weakness or an increase in stiffness, causing decreased range of motion are two common factors. If our hip tightens and becomes weak, our chances of falling while trying to step up on a curb increase greatly.
Along with these changes, come changes in the nervous system, indicating decreasing connections in our sensory abilities to maintain and control balance. With balance training, we can decrease our chances of falling. There are approximately 250,000 hip fractures each year in the elderly population, with a majority occurring in women. Many times, the outcome is severely debilitating. Some do regain their walking ability after surgery and rehabilitation, but many lose their independence after this trauma. Why? Because they become afraid. Fear of falling is another reason the elderly stop participating in society. The embarrassment of their declining ability becomes their prison. Eventually, they find themselves home bound and isolated. They have now, in essence, built their own restricted living area, that they cannot venture away from, for fear of embarrassment or injury.
Why integrate our Wellness Program into your facility?
There is no doubt that the benefits of establishing an on-site Wellness program are substantial. Patients experience an increase in independence, higher levels of energy, and a more positive outlook in life. They improve upper and lower body strength, increase flexibility, improve stability, improve balance and improve their heart rate.
Along with physical improvements patients have fewer falls, fewer bouts with depression, less chronic pain, improves self esteem and an increased desire to socialize. It is a key force in creating a positive patient/therapist relationship. A wellness patient becomes a partner who is working towards the same goal as the therapist. He is no longer going through the motions. He sees and feels the results. Maximizing patient outcomes.
"I walked in to Blue Sky Outpatient Therapy to work out severe back pain. I walked out with a new mindset. It is all about strength-- of the body and the mind. Now every day I make myself do something I didn't do the day before. I am stronger, healthier and grateful to Blue Sky." Patient
Top of Page
|
