County Commissioner and CIR Work to Improve Jackson’s Rehab Center
Not Just Any Rehabilitation Patient
After County Commissioner Sally Heyman had major back surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, she regularly visited Jackson’s rehabilitation center for therapy. She found the rehabilitation staff, which included CIR members, to be extremely helpful. However, the facility they worked in and the equipment they used were in less than pristine condition.
To give one example, individuals recovering from back surgery need to practice getting in and out of an automobile as a critical part of their therapy. Jackson’s rehabilitation center still used an actual car —- a beat-up 1970 Mustang –- which had to be located outdoors, making its use during hot Miami summers or during the frequent Florida rain storms unbearable for patients.
“We have some of the best medical practitioners in the world at JMH,” Commissioner Heyman said. “However, I found the facility and the equipment to be depressing, embarrassing and antiquated.Workers and patients deserve better.”
She took matters into her own hands, donating a new therapeutic model car to the center. Since it is not a real automobile, the new car is located inside the air-conditioned center -– a much more pleasant experience for rehabilitating patients.
Her experiences as a patient not only convinced Commissioner Heyman to commit to raising money to refurbish the center, but made her a resource when CIR looked to allocate $34,000 from its Patient Care Fund towards the rehabilitation of the center. CIR’s Patient Care Funds are negotiated, resident-administered funds that supplement patient care items not included in hospital budgets.
Based on the Commissioner’s recommendations and perspective as a patient, CIR replaced outdated stationary therapy tables with new electric adjustable height tables, refurbished custom-made exercise equipment, replaced damaged therapy rolls and wedges, creating additional storage for therapy equipment, and paid for a large wall mural to accompany the new donated car.
Dr. Halland Chen, a resident in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, found Commissioner Heyman’s input to be invaluable. “As a patient, she truly saw and experienced the needs of the rehab center in terms of our equipment,” he said. “I think she really appreciated the hard work of all the staff and offered some great input on what we needed.”