Whether patients are young or old, The St. Charles Parish Hospital Auxiliary educates and rehabilitates members of the community through their work with the St. Charles Parish Hospital’s Pediatric Rehab Treatment program and the Cardiac Rehab program.
The Pediatric Rehab Treatment, located on the 1st floor of the hospital, provides play-based therapy which includes a “rock wall” climbing area, games and bicycles to aid in a child’s therapy.
Speech therapist Meredith Bucher said that materials provided by United Way of St. Charles have gone a long way to helping her work with patients. Pediatric therapy is play-based in order to keep things fresh and the patient interested, she said.
The materials used at any given time depend largely on the specific needs of the child.
“Some toys geared toward motor (skills) needs,” Bucher said.
“But we’re able to get great use out of all these things. Even kids without motor needs, we can still use some of these things that look like they would be more geared to physical or occupational therapy to work on communication.
Just this morning, we used the swing and rock wall to work on communication with a two-year-old, because that’s what he was motivated by.”
Some children, she said, do more table-based work like board games, while others gravitate toward physical activity. Another great tool for pediatrics has been the iPad. By installing a communication device app a big impact has been made for speech therapy because it allows children who are non-verbal to have a means to expressively communicate, said Bucher.
“We use the iPad a ton,” Bucher said. “We use it for reinforcement, as a motivator for some kids … the app turns their selections into speech, kids who are non-verbal can say, ‘I want the ball, I want the bubbles, I want a swing.’
It helps them make choices, requests and answer questions.”She added that the iPad’s presence has allowed her to make informed recommendations for patients that could benefit from their own communication device.
“I’ve been able to use it to provide trial therapy (with children who could benefit from a device),” she said. “Then they’re able to get their own system. I wouldn’t be able to do that without the iPad. I would be blindly making recommendations.”
Also located on the 1st floor of the hospital is the Cardiac Rehab program which is part physical exertion and part education. A walk through its exercise room reveals patients putting in work on the elliptical, exercise bike or treadmill to get their hearts healthy, with a speaker pumping out music to motivate them to move.
There is a separate classroom where patients can learn how to create and maintain a healthy lifestyle for themselves. There, a dietician educates about diabetes. There are medication classes, videos and posters detailing how to compare portions of different foods among the tools utilized by staff.
“We’re educating them to do what right from this point forward to live longer,” said Christa Naquin, Director of Cardiology and Respiratory. “There is so much education from beginning to end. On a daily basis, they come in and let us know what they eat, if they’re having trouble or gaining weight. We get them a food intake diary, get them with a dietician. Not everyone is really educated on what should be eating. Especially in the south, so much of the food is high in salt. You gain 5 pounds because fluid goes up. We’ve got a lot of great things here provided by United Way.”
Some patients have been coming to these classes for as long as 20 years.
“One would come every day, at 92 years old. It’s impressive,” Naquin said. “They enjoy it.”
Be the first to comment