Elmhurst, The House of Friendship senior assisted living residence in Wheeling is now offering its residents in-house physical, occupational, and speech therapies with the addition of Blue Sky Therapy services.
“Our collaboration with Blue Sky Therapy is an exciting addition to the amenities Elmhurst offers its residents on our campus,” explains Jamie Crow, executive director of Elmhurst. Crow added, “Not only may our residents choose to have prescribed therapies right at home, but Blue Sky will provide us with a comprehensive wellness plan for residents and staff. In addition, the Blue Sky team will maintain close contact with physicians, residents, and their families.”
Mike Hess, Blue Sky director of operations, said his team will create a “very proactive wellness model for Elmhurst.” He explained that the team will identify at an earlier stage the residents who may benefit from various therapies.
“We want to be proactive rather than reactive in treating conditions that we can determine would benefit with earlier therapies. This may evolve when such things as difficulty in getting up from chairs, posture and walking issues, are noticed not only by our team but from Elmhurst staff that interact with residents daily,” Hess pointed out, adding, “Our goal is to lengthen the stay of residents at Elmhurst by helping them get stronger.”
The Blue ky staff will assess residents quarterly to chart each resident’s abilities, posture, balance, walking, and other functions of daily living. The complimentary voluntary assessments allow the Blue Sky staff to detect changes in functions that may require some sort of therapy interventions, Hess explained.
If a resident receives a script for physical therapy, the resident may elect to have that therapy at Elmhurst. Blue Sky staff also may contact Elmhurst’s nurses and the resident’s physician if a resident presents issues that may be resolved or lessened through a therapy regimen. Hess notes that normally physicians agree with the therapists’ assessment and provide a script for the necessary therapy.
Crow points out that Blue Sky also will offer a variety of wellness programs throughout the year for residents and staff.
Blue Sky has been in operation since 1986 and is headquartered in Canfield, Ohio. The main team at Elmhurst will include Lindsay Dobbs, PT, Karen Simons, PTA, Lisa Eskins, OTR, and Heather Clark, COTA. There are other members of Blue Sky who also will serve the Elmhurst residents as needed, including speech therapists, Hess said.
Blue Sky is located in the exercise area at Elmhurst and serve residents on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
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