Editorial by Mary W. Poole

If you are your family has experienced an accident, injury, or disease, the road to recovery begins at the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit at Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas. The Inpatient Physical Therapy Department focuses on caring for individuals whose ability to function is impaired or threatened by disease or injury. Physical Therapy can assist individuals whose impairment is related to neurological musculoskeletal or cardiovascular systems. Our services are directed toward assessing ability or disability, relieving pain, preventing disability and/or further deformity, developing or improving body skills, restoring function and maintaining maximum performance within individual capabilities. Our physical therapists develop, coordinate and utilize selected knowledge and skills in individualizing a plan specific to individual needs.

Our Rehabilitation Unit treats individuals with a variety of conditions including but not limited to the following:

• Neurological and Neuromuscular Conditions: stroke, brain tumor, transverse myelitis and Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
• Traumatic or Acquired Brain Injury.
• Spinal Cord Injury.
• Amputation: pre-and post-prosthesis.
• Burns: including Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis.
• Musculoskeletal Disorders: polyarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
• Postsurgical patients; brain, spinal or orthopedic and general.

Speech Language Pathology Services

The Speech Language Pathology Department is staffed with licensed therapists. We work with patients in the hospital who experience difficulty with speaking or understanding speech, articulation, language skills, reading or writing, and feeding or swallowing due to stroke or other neurological impairments. Our speech-language pathologists are certified by the American Speech Language and Hearing Association and are licensed by the State of Texas.

Occupational Therapy

Our Occupational Therapy team can assist in the rehabilitation and recovery of individuals when their abilities have been challenged by accident, injury, handicap or disease. Our Occupational Therapy Services are designed to help individuals overcome dysfunction, compensate for deficits, and enhance their ability to function independently. The goal of our Occupational Therapy team is to help each individual develop or regain the skills they need for work and play and to enable them to care for themselves and their homes. Occupational Therapy Services include therapy for: neuromuscular deficits, orthopedic injuries, physical disabilities, hand therapy cognitive and daily living skills.

Pet Partners

The Baptist Beaumont Hospital Pet Partners Volunteer Program has become a success in caring for the lives of our patients. Pet Partners are human-animal teams who visit people in schools, hospitals, nursing homes, adult day care centers and rehab centers. Pet Partner teams are highly trained and have passed stringent evaluations.

Many skills can be learned or improved with the assistance of a therapy animal. Patient rehabilitation can be encouraged by such activities as walking or running with a dog or throwing objects for the animal to retrieve. Fine motor skills may be developed by petting, grooming or feeding the animal. Patient communications is encouraged by the response of the animal to either verbal or physical commands. Activities such as writing or talking about the therapy animals or past pets also develops thinking skills and communication. These are benefits that can be enjoyed by non-pet owners.

To learn more about Inpatient Rehabilitation Services, please call Sheri Harper at 409-212-7515.

 Mary W. Poole is Director Public Relations at Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas