Page 6 - DCH

FEB. 23, 2010, began as a typical day for Ann Mc-Bride. She was at her job of 51 years when she suddenly began to feel strange, and soon she couldn’t speak. Ms. McBride, 72, of Valparaiso, Ind., sufered a cerebral hema-toma, a bleed in the brain. Following two brain surgeries in March 2010, Ms. McBride experienced a stroke that afected the right side of her body.

Even afer six weeks of therapy in a rehabilitation facility, Ms. McBride wasn’t able to care for herself once she was back at home.

THE PATH TO RECOVERY Because Ms. McBride needed 24-hour care and her family was in Tuscaloosa, her sister and a niece from Tuscaloosa few to Indiana to bring Ms. McBride home with them so they could care for her. She also started therapy at the DCH Rehabilitation Pavilion at Northport Medical Center.

Afer two months of intense outpatient therapy, Ms. McBride returned to Indiana for a third surgery to place a plate where part of her skull had been removed in previous surgeries. In July 2010, Ms. McBride went to Tuscaloosa for three more months of outpatient therapy at the Rehabilitation Pavilion.

Tricia Murphy, a speech-language pathologist at the Rehabilitation Pavilion, worked with Ms. McBride, who had aphasia, a loss of language skills, as well as cognitive and memory defcits caused by the brain damage.

“Language was a primary focus in the early weeks of her therapy because Ms. McBride had difculty talking,

reading and writing,” Ms. Murphy said. “Afer working several weeks on this, her language skills began to really improve, but other problems became apparent, such as some loss of memory.”

THE WAY IT WORKS For cognitive rehabilitation ther-apy, the speech therapists at the Rehabilitation Pavilion frst evaluate patients individually to decide what needs to be treated.

“Sometimes therapy focuses on trying to restore pre-vious skills, and other times therapy may focus more on compensatory strategies, but usually therapists will combine these,” Ms. Murphy said. “Speech therapists also work closely with occupational and physical therapists to include specifc cognitive and memory work with a patient’s mobility and daily living skills.”

HOME SWEET HOME Ms. McBride is now back in Indi-ana, where she lives independently. She retired recently and remains very active, driving and managing her own appointments and fnances.

“Ms. McBride was a wonderful patient who never quit and always did everything we taught her,” Ms. Murphy said. “She is an inspiration to all.”

“It seemed I lost a year of my life due to memory loss,” Ms. McBride said. “I appreciate what the therapists did for me. I would not be where I am today without their dedication.”

To learn more about services at DCH Rehabilita-tion Pavilion, visit www.dchsystem.com/rehab.

The Cognitive Therapy Program at the DCH Rehabilitation Pavilion at Northport Medical Center helps peo-ple with cognitive and/or memory defcits, according to Lisa Morris, a speech-language pathologist at the Rehabilitation Pavilion. “Cognition

is the process of thinking, which includes the abilities to problem-solve, reason and judge,” Ms. Morris explained.

Patients who may beneft from individualized cognitive therapy include those with recent problems due to stroke, brain injury, brain tumor, Parkinson’s disease or other neurological injuries or illnesses.

“People who have cognitive defcits may be easily distracted and have diffculty concentrating on activities,” Ms. Morris said. A person in the early stages of dementia also may beneft from cognitive therapy to teach both patients and their families and caregivers ways to compensate for memory loss.

YOU CAN NOW get your diabetes supplies from DCH Home Medical Equipment, West Alabama’s health care leader. DCH Home Medical Equipment provides diabetes testing supplies, including meters, strips, lancets and calibration solutions.

A person can request that supplies be delivered at home at specifed intervals of time. “Tis is one less thing people with diabetes have to remember in caring for themselves,” said DCH Home Care Agency Director Marcia Bailey.

DCH Home Care Agency includes Home Health, Home Medical Equipment and DCH Lifeline.

DCH LIFELINE SERVICES ADDS NEW FEATURE DCH Home Care’s Lifeline, a personal response system that can summon help any time of day or night, has a new feature. Lifeline with AutoAlert provides all of the standard services of Lifeline with the added func tion of automatically calling for help if the Lifeline subscriber falls or has a seizure and cannot push the help button.

For more information about how DCH Home Medical Equipment can help you, call 205-330-3177 or go to www.dchsystem.com/homemedical.

For more information about DCH Home Care Agency services, call 205-759-7010 or go to www.dchsystem .com/homecare.