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Carli Charbonneau

January 13 2022

OT/ PT/ Audiology

This week I had the amazing opportunity to shadow Lewis County general

hospitals rehabilitation department. According to lcgh.net, “Lewis County Health System

Rehabilitation Department offers many services to improve your quality of life. Each

patient takes an active role in making decisions about their care. Patients receive

specialized services to help them achieve goals and gain maximum independence”.

Their department offers a wide variety of treatment, so they can help you with many of

your or your loved ones needs, and do so with exceptional care. According to their

website, LCGH offers services including, Mckenzie Back Therapy, Physical Therapy,

Occupational Therapy, Pelvic Floor Therapy, Hand Therapy, LSVT Big and LSVT Loud,

Speech & Language Therapy, Vestibular Therapy, and Pediatric Therapy.

Mckenzie back therapy, otherwise known as the Mckenzie method, is a type of

protocol used for treatment as well as a pain reliever for many types of back pain. While

this treatment can help many people, you should avoid this method if you have had

back surgery or have a serious spinal cord condition such as a spinal fracture. At

LCGH, they help you and design a specific treatment, sometimes using Mckenzie back

therapy to help ease your pain, they can also give you a detailed description of your

injury as well as answer many of your questions about your recovery.

Physical therapy at Lewis County general hospital includes outpatient physical

therapy services for patients recovering from orthopedic, neurological, cardiopulmonary,

and vestibular impairments of all diagnoses. All patients with a medical prescription get
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a very individualized treatment. The goal of you and your Physical therapist is to restore

prior levels of function, including mobility and strength. LCGH works as a team with your

healthcare providers and Physician to maximize your care.

Occupational therapy at the hospital is similar to physical therapy, but has very

different demands and goals. An occupational therapist’s goal for their patient is to help

them reach their highest level of independence, this includes rehabilitation and also in

some cases, adapting their patient's environment to suit their needs to reach

independence. Lcgh.net explains this as “Through the use of the FOCUS and BTE work

simulators, we can measure functional abilities using realistic activities. The BTE work

simulator is commonly used with hand patients to regain lost skills following stroke,

fractures, carpal tunnel surgery, trauma, or other medical conditions. A variety of

attachments simulate tasks such as starting a car, opening a jar, gripping, pinching and

using various hand tools such as screwdrivers”.

When many people hear the subject of hearing loss, they might automatically

think of the elderly, but it can actually happen to anyone. Lewis County general hospital

can help you by referring you to their audiology department. This can happen at any

age, from newborn to elderly. By going to an audiologist, they will test your hearing on

many levels, including hearing tests with background noises and much more, to get an

accurate understanding of what is going on in your ears.

All of these services are a crucial part of life and without these, many people

would not be able to recover from many things like strokes, surgeries, trauma, and

more. I think because you are helping people become a better version of themselves

physically, and it having such a big mental impact, because they get to do the things
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they love again is an extremely rewarding experience and that is why I want to go into

this field, to help people succeed. Even if they aren't 100 percent back, they are always

better when they leave, from when they first came in, and you have the satisfaction

knowing you did that.

Reference

Rehabilitation service. Lewis County Health System. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2022, from
https://www.lcgh.net/rehabilitation-service