Sheltering Arms Blog

Sheltering Arms is having a good week.

Richmond’s premier physical therapy and rehabilitation healthcare provider has been notified this week that it has won two national awards and three statewide awards. Competing against healthcare organizations from across the U.S., Sheltering Arms was honored with a gold Aster Award, given only to the top five percent of entries. Sheltering Arms was also notified that it has earned an award in the 27th Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards, and has won three awards from the Virginia Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations (VSHMPR).

Sheltering Arms is being honored with a gold Aster Award for its Spine Clinic Brochure. One of the largest national competitions of its kind, The Aster Awards is hosted by Marketing Healthcare Today Magazine and Creative Images, Inc.. This elite program recognizes outstanding healthcare professionals for excellence in their advertising/marketing efforts for the calendar year 2009. This year, entries were received from approximately 3,000 organizations from across the United States as well as Canada and South America.

“It was an honor to have Sheltering Arms participate in the 2010 Aster Awards Competition. The quality of this year’s entries went well beyond the judges’ expectations,” said Melinda R. Lucas, Aster Awards Program Coordinator.

The same Spine Clinic Brochure that was honored with an Aster Award also won two additional awards. Sheltering Arms received a Bronze Award for the brochure in the 27th Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards, sponsored by Healthcare Marketing Report. The brochure was given a first place award by the VSHMPR. Sheltering Arms also received second place awards in that statewide competition for its 2008 Annual Report and its Power to Overcome Documentary.

“We’re obviously thrilled to receive these recognitions,” said James E. Sok, Sheltering Arms President and Chief Executive Officer. “While these are marketing awards, the pieces feature the exceptional care our team provides to Sheltering Arms patients every day. I am honored to lead an organization that is dedicated to quality on all levels.”

All winners of the Aster Awards are published at www.AsterAwards.com, as well as in Marketing Healthcare Today, a national healthcare marketing magazine.

May is National Stroke Awareness Month! Sheltering Arms still has a few exciting educational events planned for the remainder of the month. Check them out below and make sure to call and reserve your space today!

Do you have a Stroke Plan?

Thursday, May 13, 2010
9:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. – lunch provided
Science Museum of Virginia

Join Sheltering Arms and Bon Secours for this community education seminar. Physicians and other healthcare professionals will share important information about primary and secondary stroke prevention and tips for developing an individual stroke plan. Health screenings and one-on-one stroke risk counseling with Registered Nurses are included!

Seating is limited. Call (804) 764-5275 to register.

Stroke Recovery: Before During and After the Rehabilitation Process

Thursday, May 13, 2010
6:00-8:00 p.m. – dinner provided
Sheltering Arms Administrative Offices
140 East Shore Drive
Glen Allen, VA

This seminar is designed for healthcare professionals who are interested in an in-depth look at their patients’ journey through physical rehabilitation.

Call (804) 764-5738 or e-mail cgroseclose@shelteringarms.com to reserve your seat!

Bioness Technology Seminar and Screenings

Tuesday, May 25, 2010
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Sheltering Arms Administrative Offices
140 East Shore Drive
Glen Allen, VA

People who experience foot drop or decreased hand function related to Stroke, MS, Brain Injury or Spinal Cord Injury are invited to learn about the latest Bioness® technologies and take advantage of personal screenings with physical and occupational therapists.

For more information, or to register, call (804) 342-4199.

The DuPont Spruance Plant’s 3000 Day Safety Club has generously supported Sheltering Arms since 1954. As a DuPont employee for nearly forty years, Chris Fredericksen was very familiar with the remarkable recoveries patients make at Sheltering Arms, but never did he imagine that he would be one of them!

In February, E.coli entered Chris’s body through a broken tooth when he was eating a hamburger. After spending eight days in intensive care and moving around among hospitals and skilled nursing facilities, Mr. Fredericksen ended up at Sheltering Arms.

“I couldn’t ask for any place better,” he says.

Ironically, after the first week of his two-week stay at Sheltering Arms, Chris’s wife became a patient as well. Prior to his illness, Chris spent his days working hard at DuPont and visiting his wife in another local hospital at night. Once he got sick, it had been over a month since the two had an opportunity to see each other – until they both landed at Sheltering Arms.

Chris was discharged from inpatient rehab on March 30th, and continues his recovery with outpatient therapy several times a week.

“Everything’s been getting better and better since I came to Sheltering Arms,” he adds. “I’m mighty glad they’re here.”

Team members from DuPont came to the hospital to make a donation to Sheltering Arms in Chris’s honor on Thursday, April 8th.

After extending a public request for proposal, Lucy Corr Village, a highly regarded skilled nursing facility in Chesterfield County, has selected Sheltering Arms Physical Rehabilitation Centers as the provider of its therapy services.

These two dynamic and growing Richmond icons share a genuine commitment to the community. Both are non-profit health care organizations started by women who wanted to ensure that members of their communities were able to receive the care they needed and deserved, regardless of their ability to pay. This continues to be a core component of their missions today.

As Sheltering Arms and Lucy Corr bring their strengths together with this multi-year contractual relationship, residents throughout Central Virginia will benefit from top-notch long-term care. While Lucy Corr Village provides superior skilled nursing expertise, Sheltering Arms offers knowledge of contemporary therapy techniques, ongoing training of licensed therapists, and an emphasis on exceptional clinical outcomes.

“I know that Lucy Corr Village received several proposals, and I am very proud and that Sheltering Arms is their selected provider,” says James E. Sok, Sheltering Arms President and Chief Executive Officer. “This opportunity allows us to expand our continuum of services and make our research, technology and caring approach available to more patients.”

Partnerships such as this will become increasingly important as the baby boomer population ages and more people find themselves in need of comprehensive, quality rehabilitative care.

When Ron Duck offered to help one of his employees on July 27, 2006, he had no idea it would change his life forever. An accident on the loading dock resulted in a spinal cord injury, leaving him unable to speak and with limited movement.

“I couldn’t even scratch my nose,” he recalls.

Ron spent nearly six months in hospitals, where he gained medical stability and began the rehabilitation process. He came to Sheltering Arms for outpatient physical and occupational therapy, and to this day he is an active fitness and Club Rec member at our Midtown location.

He has developed a special bond with fitness specialist, Carmelo Vazquez, who pushes him a little farther each time they work together.

“He and I understand each other. He shows genuine concern and has given me the confidence to come as far as I have,” says Duck. “When I first starting coming to Sheltering Arms, I didn’t even have enough strength and control to close the door. Now, I can close it and lock the deadbolt. I’m not so dependent anymore and that’s a great feeling.”

Ron and his wife have found a second family at Sheltering Arms, helping them to do many things they didn’t realize were possible, such as making wreaths, painting and even traveling.

“Being among the folks here, you realize it’s okay to be where you are. We’ve all lost something, but Sheltering Arms gives us the courage to get it back,” he adds with a smile.

To learn more about the Sheltering Arms Club Rec program and/or fitness center, call (804) 764-5275.

(Richmond, Va.) – Richmond-based Sheltering Arms is announcing a partnership with a nationally-recognized firm that’s designed to provide a number of new services for patients. Sheltering Arms Physical Rehabilitation Centers and HealthPRO Rehabilitation have signed a formal collaboration agreement to offer contemporary rehabilitation services in the post-acute healthcare setting (where patients go following a hospital stay) throughout the area.

“When we team up with long-term care providers, Sheltering Arms is able to offer knowledge of leading-edge therapy techniques, ongoing training of licensed therapists, and an emphasis on exceptional clinical outcomes,” says James Sok, Sheltering Arms President and CEO.

HealthPRO, a growing, community-oriented company, has developed a strong reputation on the basis of its knowledge of the post-acute rehabilitation industry, and specifically its IT solutions – documentation, management, and reporting systems, which are unsurpassed.

This unique hybrid approach developed between Sheltering Arms and HealthPRO will bring the best of both worlds together and provide skilled nursing facilities with an option that previously was not available – top-notch clinical services and management, combined with superior industry knowledge and software tools.

HealthPRO, which has a strong presence in the Northeastern states but not in Virginia, is excited about the opportunity to collaborate with Sheltering Arms because of its reputation, skilled staff and excellent outcomes in the rehabilitation settings.

The need for quality rehabilitative care is growing. As the baby boomer population ages, a larger number of people will find themselves in need of comprehensive, quality rehabilitative care and Sheltering Arms is working to ensure that the highest quality services are available in Virginia.

About Sheltering Arms
Sheltering Arms helps patients find the Power to Overcome the obstacles of illness and injury with a complete range of physical rehabilitation and wellness services. To learn more about Sheltering Arms’ two hospitals and eight outpatient clinics visit http://www.ShelteringArms.com, call 1-877-56-REHAB, or connect with Sheltering Arms on Facebook or Twitter.

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With a history of more than 120 years, Sheltering Arms has many longtime supporters.  Two of its most generous and influential supporters, however, are Robert Watkins and deVeaux Riddick.  The two mainstays of Richmond theater were asked in 1957 to help Sheltering Arms create a new fundraiser.  The event they helped create, the Bal du Bois, continues to be an annual tradition, and Watkins and Riddick have designed the set for every one since its inception.

The two men will be honored this Friday night by the Woman’s Club, where many of their plays have been staged.  The evening will celebrate their decades of contributions to local theater.  The Richmond Times-Dispatch today ran a story on the upcoming event…

The evening will focus on the 22-year run of drawing-room comedies Watkins and Riddick staged at the theater of the Bolling Haxall House, the downtown Richmond home of the Woman’s Club for more than 100 years. But it’s more than that, said organizer Ann Belk and countless others who have known and worked with Watkins and Riddick through the years.

The evening is called “As Far As Love Can Reach,” and will feature nine love scenes from some of Watkins and Riddick’s most memorable plays.  It will take place at the theater at Bolling Haxall House.  For more about Riddick and Watkins, and for information on how to attend “As Far As Love Can Reach,” check out the article in today’s Times-Dispatch.

The Valentine’s Day surprise for patients at Sheltering Arms’ Hanover County inpatient hospital was named a “Mech Moment” by the Mechanicsville Local this week!  For more details on the surprise, read this post.  A scan of the image in the Mechanicsville Local is below!

Mechanicsville Local, February 17, 2010

Valentine’s Day may be two days away, but the celebration was well under way at Sheltering Arms’ inpatient hospital at Memorial Regional Medical Center today.  A former patient arranged for a quartet to perform for our current patients in honor of Valentine’s Day!  Some pictures are below.  Click the images to see larger versions.

The Mechanicsville Local, the weekly newspaper for the town of Mechanicsville, published a story this week about the new stroke rehabilitation accreditation for The Sheltering Arms Hospital.  The story is scanned and posted below.  Click it for a larger version!