St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital Rehabilitation Services

St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital’s Rehabilitative Services is committed to improving quality of life by reducing pain and maximizing the functionality of patients with disabilities or injuries through comprehensive, individualized care.

Our Rehab Services Department practices a comprehensive team approach to therapy. We use education for patients and caregivers, paired with physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech language pathology. Our highly trained rehabilitative staff work with patients to evaluate pain levels and create, implement and track the progress of personalized therapy plans.

Typical diagnoses and/or treatments referred to our outpatient rehabilitative services include:

Physical Therapy

Good Samaritan’s physical therapy team will help any patient, newborn to older adult, with functional mobility and/or soft tissue pain limitation. This department, which abides by American Physical Therapy Association standards, offers modalities including manual therapy and therapeutic exercise to reduce pain and improve functionality.

Pain and/or physical limitations do not have to become a way of life. Our philosophy is to assess your limitations, evaluate your abilities and work with you to reach your maximum potential.

Good Samaritan’s licensed physical therapists use special programs to help patients progress, including vestibular rehabilitation to regain balance. Each physical therapist on staff has a minimum of the following qualifications:

• Degree in Physical Therapy from an accredited university
• Continuing education courses
• Georgia state licensure

Physical therapy is often used in conjunction with occupational therapy and speech therapy. Combining all three modalities treats not only gross motor skills such as walking but also fine motor skills such as dressing and oral motor movements such as speech and swallowing. Our therapists will work with you to determine the most appropriate rehabilitation plan. A physician’s referral is required for rehabilitative treatment. Please call Good Samaritan Hospital Outpatient Rehab for more information at (706) 453-5088.

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy is most commonly seen as treatment for activities of daily living involving dexterity, cognition and achievement of life skills appropriate for each patient. Therapists work closely with patients to educate, maximize independence, maintain health and obtain adaptive equipment necessary to help with everyday skills.

Each Occupational Therapist on staff at Good Sam has the following credentials:

• A Degree in Occupational Therapy from an accredited university
• Continuing education (modalities certification)
• Georgia State licensure

Patients from newborn to adult experiencing delays in fine motor, perceptual, or visual skills, attention, motor planning, organization, activities of daily living and or other physical impairments may benefit from working with an occupational therapist. Physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists are located in the same suite to ensure a complete continuum of rehabilitative care.

Speech-Language Pathology

Speech-language therapy rounds out the comprehensive team approach to rehabilitation. Good Sam’s specialized, licensed speech language pathologists help patients from pediatrics to geriatrics regain and improve communication and swallowing skills. Using a variety of oral-neuromuscular and cognitive-linguistic treatments, pathologists treat aphasia, language, articulation, voice, stuttering, swallowing and cognition disorders.

Good Sam’s Speech and Language Therapists effectively treat patients of all ages and specialize in pediatrics and adults. The following credentials are required:

• Graduate degree in Speech and Language Pathology from an accredited university
• Clinical Certificate of Competence (CCC) through the American Speech/Language and Hearing Association (ASHA)
• Continuing education
• Georgia state licensure

Swing Bed Program

For patients who need additional short-term care after discharge but before they are able to return home, St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital offers a 24/7 Swing Bed program. Swing bed patients are admitted to our regular nursing rooms where they receive intensive rehabilitative services and routine nursing and medical care. We are proud that most of our Swing Bed patients recover enough function to return to home or a community setting.

Patients who qualify may be recovering from illness, injury, major surgeries or other debilitating conditions. We work with each patient to create an individualized care plan to maximize the full range of functions needed to return home. This is a Medicare program, and we also accept most insurance plans that provide this coverage.

Services include

• 24-hour nursing care
• Case management
• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Speech-language pathology
• Nutritional services
• Private rooms
• Spiritual care
• Wound care

Call (706) 453-5088, (706) 453-5195, or (706) 453-5019 for more information.