New Physical Therapy service available
IRON MOUNTAIN – Veterans from around the Upper Peninsula and northern
Wisconsin staying at the Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center in Iron
Mountain, Michigan, for short term rehabilitation or long term care will
now have additional physical therapy options that, according to a press release from the VA, are both convenient and state of the art.
walking with the help of a Lite Gait that helps a patient to balance and
walk. He is being assisted by VA physical therapist Josh Early, PT,
(right) and equipment company representative Monika Patel, PT, DPT
(left). Chellew was the first patient to use the VA Medical Center’s
new Physical Therapy Satellite Clinic.
The VA medical center recently opened a physical therapy (PT) satellite
clinic in its Community Living Center, the medical center’s long term
care and short term rehabilitation unit.
The new PT satellite clinic will offer inpatient residents additional
rehabilitation opportunities with the newest, state-of-the art
rehabilitation equipment on the Community Living Center’s main floor.
This equipment includes the latest models of recumbent steppers, upper
and lower extremity conditioning bikes, and full power adjustable
parallel bars.
“This equipment will provide the Veteran with the most up to date
rehabilitation techniques for recovery from brain and spinal cord
injuries,” said Josh Early, a Physical Therapist at the VA Medical
Center. Early was working with retired Navy Veteran Roy Chellew, the
first patient in the satellite PT clinic.
Not only will these inpatient Veterans receive the most up-to-date
physical therapy treatments, they will also be more timely and
convenient. Prior to opening the satellite clinic, residents needed to
be transported to the medical center’s main PT clinic on the fifth
floor.
“Veterans residing long term or short term at the Community Living
Center are now right ‘next door’ to physical therapy services, which
greatly improves their access to rehabilitation,” said Early.
“Our primary goal is to provide the highest quality physical medicine
and rehab care in as close to a home-like environment as possible,” said
Jim Zeigler, Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, “and this
satellite clinic in the Community Living Center does just that.”