Masonicare’s Expert Rehab Staff

Has Room For Outpatients, Too

By John Voket

Watching Newtowner Rose Marie Abric and Monroe resident Sherry Partridge chatting quietly in a corner of Masonicare of Newtown’s rehabilitation center, a casual observer would be hard-pressed to tell which woman received care there following elective foot surgery, and which one was in the process of recovering from a high-impact auto wreck.

But as the two reveal their individual rehabilitation stories, one thing becomes abundantly clear. Both are indebted to Jhasson Brooks, who heads up the local rehabilitation department, and what they both describe as a “talented and caring staff” who helped bring both patients to the point where they have regained daily functionality.

Ms Partridge’s relationship with Masonicare began in January 2008 when she was on her way to a motocross competition in Bridgeport. As she sat at a red light on the Post Road, a drunk driver sped down an exit ramp from Interstate 95, ignoring the red light, and plowed into her vehicle head-on.

The offending driver was killed in the explosive crash, and Ms Partridge spent four months in a coma, suffering massive injuries. When she finally regained consciousness, the real recovery began.

“My doctor at the time gave me a five percent chance that I would survive,” she said without batting an eye. “So I decided at that time I could either make the best of it or the worst of it.”

She said her doctors and the Masonicare staff who worked with Ms Partridge as both an in-patient and out-patient credited her attitude with something of a miraculous recovery.

“Initially my doctors were projecting it would take me 18 months to walk,” she said. “But I was walking in four months.”

After spending a month in intensive rehab at St Vincent’s in Bridgeport, she was handed off to Masonicare, who contracts its rehab services through Rehabilitation Associates of Fairfield County. In the initial stages of her in-patient rehabilitation as the dozens of breaks and fractures she suffered began mending, Ms Partridge admitted, “I was in so much pain, the only thing that got me through sometimes was the staff telling me getting through today will make tomorrow easier.”

After two in-patient stints, and a period of out-patient care, Ms Partridge anticipates yet another return to Masonicare.

“I still have a broken shoulder and a broken bone in my ankle which will require rehab recovery,” she said. “But what you see here today is the product of a lot of hard work by fantastic people.”

‘Almost Like Family’

At the other end of the rehab spectrum, Ms Abric’s case is representative of more than half of the in-patients and most of the out-patients Masonicare’s rehab department in Newtown sees. In her case it was reconstructive foot surgery during which her doctor discovered substantial tendon damage.

“I spent an overnight in Danbury Hospital following the procedure, and then transferred to Masonicare as an in-patient for two weeks,” she said. “But even after I was discharged to home, both my rehabilitation therapists came to the house voluntarily to make sure I could climb the steps and get around as needed.”

Just a few months after her procedure, Ms Abric can already walk and drive with little apparent sign that she will be in recovery from her surgery well into the new year.

“The doctors are pleased with my progress,” Ms Abric said, adding that once she is given a clean bill of health she is considering coming back to Masonicare as a volunteer.

“Even after I was discharged, my therapists kept calling to check on my progress,” Ms Abric said.

“These are more than just medical and rehab professionals,” Ms Partridge asserted. “They become almost like family.

“After my accident my husband and daughter looked at four places before I came here, and my doctors at St Vincent’s concurred that Masonicare was the best place for the level of rehab I would require,” Ms Partridge said.

Mr Brooks, along with his rehab team, calls Masonicare home despite the fact that they are an outside provider agency. And he believes that the more people in recovery — and their doctors — become familiar with the scope and quality of rehab care his staff can provide, the more they will flock to Newtown for both in-patient and out-patient services.

“Usually patients come here by request because it provides a convenient location or shorter travel distance from their home than facilities in Bridgeport or Danbury,” he said. “But we find a lot of docs suggest patients rehab at facilities they are familiar with.”

Shifting Mindset

With spokespersons like Ms Partridge and Ms Abric, however, Mr Brooks hopes that a lot of surgeons “will shift away from the mindset that Masonicare is just a nursing home.” And he believes many more out-patients could benefit from the care his team provides.

“Right now we have plenty of capacity to handle outpatients. We just lack the volume.” And he pointed out that out-patients receive the same continuum of care that is afforded to in-patients.

“If you sprained your ankle you could ask your doctor to send you here tomorrow,” said Mr Brooks. “But once you are here, you can access assistance with nutrition, diabetes support, or we could look into other aches and pains that might be unrelated to the immediate reason you are here.”

Rehab patients at Masonicare can be screened by an occupational therapist, or if their injury is causing issues with depression, “we have the ability to detect and address the emotional component of recovery along with our staff social worker, who might recommend counseling.”

“The team approach here is really unique,” he added. “You won’t walk out of here without comprehensive care.”

Masonicare’s Executive Director Tom Gutner said the initiation of outpatient rehab services at his Newtown facility, which was launched in the spring of 2008, was the perfect compliment to the limited in-patient services that have been available locally since 2002.

“Even though the services are provided by individuals who work for an outside provider, we have a stable team of rehab specialists here,” Mr Gutner said. “And most people can’t tell where the rehab team ends and the Masonicare team begins because it is a team approach. Ultimately, everyone’s goal is to see our patients reach their goals, to go home, and thrive.”