Therapies programs highlighted

Sunrise Therapies, held a celebration lunch, and invited the media, patients and The Health Foundation. The celebration was to recognize how the therapies department has grown, and how the treatment programs available locally have grown hugely over the last few years.

Jacquie Holzmann, Director of Therapies for Sunrise, pointed out that "with Stroke awareness month just past, the department wanted to create awareness about the wide range of therapies programs available to residents of this area, and how much the programs have grown. This event is also highlighting our enclosed lawn and garden area that therapies uses to work with many heart attack and stroke patients.

"In addition to helping patients recover skills like walking and talking we also like to make sure that they can do many of the things they would normally do at home. We work with patients to make sure they can do those day to day activities they used to do when they go home. The gardening area is perfect for that, we help patients to plant and weed the garden area, help them get comfortable using gardening tools again," continued Ms. Holzmann.

"The growth in programs available through the therapies program is very rewarding," said Ross Fisher, Executive Director of The Health Foundation. At one time patients from this area needing therapy had to travel to Regina for almost all of the programs that are available here now. That's a difference of several hundred patients a year that no long have to go to Regina for their treatment."

"This is about much more than convenience," continued Mr. Fisher. Yes there are huge cost savings for patients if they don't have to go to the city for treatment, as they don't have to incur travel and lodging costs, and family members don't have to take time off work to take them into the city."

"However, the most significant benefit is that our residents have improved access to the healthcare they need, and they receive treatment faster than if they had to go to Regina, continued Mr. Fisher. Regina does good work, but often the waiting lists are months long. For many therapies programs, like those working with patients that have just had a heart attack or stroke, the faster you begin your treatment after you have a stroke or heart attack the more fully you will recover."

It is very rewarding to come into the therapies building, because 10 years ago we didn't have this building, and we didn't have most of the programs that are now delivered out of this building. In the last 10 years we've added a children's therapy program, the acquired brain injury program, the stroke therapy program, the lymphedema service, and expanded all of the core services the department provides.

"The Health Foundation has bought much of the equipment that is in use in therapies, and it is a testament to the generosity of our community that they make significant donations allowing us to work with Sunrise to put new programs and services in place," continued Mr. Fisher. "That's also the type of equipment we like to buy, equipment that will allow a new program or service to be provided."

Not only that, The Health Foundation raised the money to build the therapies building, and bought most of the equipment in it, including the shed and equipment for the gardening program. "We have been very involved with the therapies department, and we are very glad to see the growth in the services that get provided," concluded Mr. Fisher.