Saturday, July 30, 2011

"Centers of Excellence"

What qualifies as a centers of excellence? Many people may think that because I do therapy in Haiti I must be treating many earthquake victims. And though I do treat people that were effected by the earthquake, because all were that were living here, the main diagnosis I see would be Stroke. I know that Stroke is not as sexy as other diagnosis, but it can be.... Before I left for my vacation I was quite aware that we were treating a large number of strokes sometimes up to 8 a day, and that the number was increasing. We are starting to get referrals all the way from Port Au Prince (45 mins away in a car), and from Dr’s that we did not know. These patients were coming to our rehab with prescriptions from real Dr.’s for therapy !! Very cool. But when you are in the thick of things, you treat, provide care, educate, and on, on, on. After I left for the States and then returned to the rehab center, I had a fresh look on our clinic. A stroke patient came in with his family (daughter, wife, and possible son?), he had a stroke within the month (very recent). Looking over his chart (yes we have charts:)), the chart stated the patient had not been walking, was not able to put on his own clothes, and required assistance to feed himself. Before the stroke it stated that he was working construction ( he was a only in his ~50’s). His daughter presented the rendezvous he had been given for therapy 2x’s a week with his home exercise program, and promised that he had been completing the exercises. He was still having quite a bit of difficulty with walking, with both daughter and wife on either side of him for support to walk into to the therapy department. As we progressed through the session, I was able to continue to educate the family regarding his diagnosis, demonstrate to them with just verbal cues he could dress and feed himself independently, provided him with a walker so he could walk with minimal assistance, and watched him smile, play basketball with me, and dance “Kompa” (while sitting) (Kompa is the popular Haitian dance). 2 weeks ago this man had a stroke and his family and him were facing a a very uncertain, scary moment, and now they were laughing with me watching their loved one sit on the mat with his eyes closed swaying to the music and walk out the rehab door with minimal assistance ! This story happens at our clinic, not just once but daily! We do have our stories that are not as successful or “excellent,” but this is what we are striving to do with each person.
So, I have worked at “Centers of Exellance” before in the States,. and after “googling” the definition, I think we qualify.
Web definitions of Centers of Excellence:
1. www.nahu.org/consumer/glossary.cfm
Providers who are selected to perform certain specialized procedures because of their expertise and willingness to provide discounts.

This is us for sure! We are providers who preform specialized therapy for each individual with an expertise and ALOT of willingness. The discount is called “pou gratis.”

2.


www.johnsmurf.com/jargon.htm
Certainly beats centers of failure. Most companies have a nice set of both.

I think this one is funny, but also true. The best way to learn is from your failures. We have had many failures, so I am still learning.

Thank you so much everyone who accepted me back home with open arms, open minds, and open ears to listen and understand my life here. You will never know how much that means to me. Also thank you so much for everyone who works so hard in MANY different ways to support me and this clinic. Thank you for supporting right where you are standing. This is something that I could not do, and I am in constant admiration of you. Love you, Jeanie.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you Jeanie for making Haiti Medical MIssions of Memphis Rehab Clinic a Center of Excellence! What a gift you and Erin are for the people of Haiti! ... Susie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Inspiring.... as always! Love you!

    ReplyDelete