Additional Clinical Programs

Aquatic therapy and exercise in the indoor pool offers many benefits for people recovering from a serious injury or illness. Our pool temperature averages 91-95 degrees Fahrenheit (33-35 degrees Celsius), per the Aquatic Exercise Association guidelines. The warmth, buoyancy and gentle resistance helps patients ease back into an exercise routine as they recover from an injury or illness or manage chronic pain such as arthritis.

Assistive technology includes the use of assistive, adaptive and rehabilitative devices and a process of working with trained specialists to select the appropriate device to improve independence for each individual in their home, work, school and community environments. Assistive technology specialists will provide evaluations and help identify solutions using various equipment and technology that maximize the individual’s ability to perform daily tasks with the highest level of independence and improve the overall quality of life.

Augmentative communication helps each individual with communication challenges to interact as independently as possible with their environment and the people around them. Specially trained speech-language pathologists will help select and implement appropriate tools, strategies and technology to enhance communication including spoken and written language. Tools and techniques may be as basic as using a picture board or as advanced as using speech generating devices that detect eye movements to help a person communicate. 

Madonna's Continence Specialty Program helps patients who, because of an illness or serious injury, experience bowel and bladder dysfunction symptoms regain control and return to their life roles.

Madonna partners with Hanger Prosthetics for inpatient care. Located onsite, the certified prosthetist is available for consultation throughout a person’s stay in the hospital or as an outpatient, collaborating with other rehabilitation professionals regarding such areas as conditioning of the residual limb, preparation for prosthetic fitting, fit and use of a prosthetic device, including an Immediate Post-Operative Prosthesis (IPOP), education regarding management of amputation and prosthetic use and referral to certified prosthetists throughout the region.

When an individual has ongoing difficulties with balance or dizziness, a physical therapist with specialized training in vestibular rehabilitation can help retrain the brain’s ability to compensate for these challenges.  Vestibular rehabilitation involves specific exercises and techniques to improve balance and decrease feelings of dizziness.  

Madonna is the only hospital in the region to provide an extensive vision rehabilitation program delivered by specially trained experts who use state-of-the-art technology to help patients of all ages with visual impairments resulting from illness or injury to maximize their quality of life in home and community-related roles.

More

Patient Life Services

The Peer Volunteer Program matches individuals with disabilities with people just starting rehabilitation. Peers listen, share meaningful life experiences and provide hope for the future.  Visit the VOLUNTEER page to find out how to participate.

Specially trained occupational therapists can offer recommendations or changes that will make the home more accessible to maximize independence for individuals with a physical disability. This generally includes a combination of minor construction and modification, as well as training in the use of appropriate adaptive equipment.

Madonna hosts outings for individuals to experience various types of sports and recreational activities like bowling, tennis, golf and marksmanship. Therapeutic outings include trips within the community to practice daily living skills like maneuvering a newly prescribed wheelchair, practicing navigation and route finding or working on communication skills within public environments.

Integrative medicine seeks to understand each person’s unique circumstances and works to address the full range of physical, cognitive, emotional, social, spiritual and environmental influences that effect health.  It includes a broad range of healing therapies and may incorporate techniques such as massage, aromatherapy, music, etc., integrated with more traditional medical approaches to care.  The focus is on not only addressing the immediate health problem but also on prevention of long-term health issues and developing healthy behaviors that maintain and promote long-term well-being of the whole person.     

Transitional apartments prepare the patient and their families for discharge by allowing the individual to live in the apartment for a short period of time alone or with a caregiver. The patient has an apartment key, follows his or her own therapy schedule and is responsible for taking daily medications and treatments while having their care providers close by for consultation or assistance when needed.