St. John’s Circle of Care shows new Therapy/Rehab Suites

St. John’s Circle of Care  showed their newly renovated Therapy and Rehabilitation Suites during open house the afternoon of Tuesday, June 2.

St. John’s Circle of Care partners with Aegis Therapies to provide therapy and rehabilitation as both inpatient and outpatient services. 

Nursing homes are no longer simply places where people go to live out their final days. The majority of people who are admitted to nursing homes are there to receive rehabilitation services so that they can go back home, said Claire Meyers, foundation development and marketing executive director at St. John’s Circle of Care. In fact, more than 50 percent of the people discharged from St. John’s either went home or to a setting where less care is required, such as an apartment or assisted living. “Today, the primary focus of nursing homes is to get you stronger, get you better, and get you home,” said Meyers.

Six nursing rooms were renovated to create four fully - furnished rehab suites and the therapy room just across the hall on the far end of Station 1 South at St. John Nursing Home. It is a good location that is convenient and easily accessible to visitors and those coming for outpatient services. 

A new therapy department is necessary because the former department was in an inconvenient location in the basement of the nursing home. “It was difficult to get residents to and from the downstairs location. It was boxed in its own little corner,” said Meyers. “Therapy is a large part of our care here at the nursing home. It needed to be moved, renovated and spotlighted to attract patients/clients,” said Meyers. 

It is difficult to attract people to a nursing home for rehabilitation for many reasons but the biggest deterrent was not having available fully-furnished suites for those in need of short-term therapy, said Meyers. “Now it’s fully furnished and on its own wing, so those who need short-term rehab don’t have to move anything in, they don’t have to connect phone and cable.  They can come in and therapy is right across the hall.” 

St. John’s Circle of Care also offers outpatient therapy services.  

St. John’s accepts Medicare, Medicaid, and most types of insurance plans. 

The cost of renovating the rooms and providing furnishings and equipment was $55,000. Financial support for the entire project was provided by 88 donors.

A fully-furnished bariatric room is also new at St. John Lutheran Home. Bariatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity. Cost for the equipment and furnishings for the room was $22,000 that was funded by the Pieschel Family Foundation and Tews Family Farms.