Featured Fieldwork Site
Greater Lafayette Health Services, Inc.
Location and Type of Facility:
Greater Lafayette Health Services, Inc. (GLHS) represents the merging of
Home Hospital and St. Elizabeth's Medical Center. An affiliation at GLHS
will afford the opportunity for work experience at both campus sites, which
are within a mile of each other in Lafayette, Indiana.
A staff of 29 Occupational Therapists work as a team within a merged operation
with 53 Physical Therapists. All combined Occupational Therapy programs
see 100 to 120 patients a day. The Occupational Therapy treatment environment
at Home Hospital and at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center is one of fast paced
teamwork with progressive state-of-the-art technology. The entire Occupational
Therapy staff is dedicated to providing quality student experiences for
the 14 schools that maintain affiliation contracts.
OT Programs and Services:
GLHS Occupational Therapy Programs include the following:
- Adult Physical Disabilities: Inpatient, outpatient, Skilled
Nursing Facility
- Pediatrics: Outpatient, inpatient, NICU, First Steps
in-home therapy, newborn follow-up clinic
- Psychiatric: 20 bed locked adult inpatient unit and adult
outpatient
- Rehab: 18 bed adult intensive rehabilitation unit
- Home Health: Adult home therapy to clients in an 8 county
area
Occupational Therapy specialty areas:
- Certified Hand Therapy
- Certified Lymphedema Therapy
- Certified in CBDI (Cognitive Behavioral Driving Inventory) administration
- Psychotherapy Training Completion
- NCAST (Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training ? teaching and feeding)
- Certified Loving Touch Infant Massage
- Certification in Wilbarger protocol
- Certified in Functional Independence Measurements of Progress Tracking (FEM)
Innovative Interventions:
- Our six certified lymphedema therapists (3 OT and 3 PT) have worked with area
oncologists to establish community education, as well as standing order inpatient
and follow-up outpatient care for breast cancer patients.
- Recent purchase of and training on a BTE (Baltimore Therapeutic Equipment)
has given way to efficient administration of Functional Capacity Evaluations
and added to modality resources for the adult physical disability population.
- Weekly in-service meetings on all hand patient referrals in the presence
of the Certified Hand Therapist affords greater learning potential for therapists
preparing for the CHT exam.
- Weekly interdisciplinary meetings on nursing units and in home health to
review census, treatment plan and assure appropriate referral sources.
- Neonatal Developmental Clinic for past NICU patients where follow-up is
given by a Neonatologist, Neonatal Nurse, OT, PT, Speech, Behavioral Psychologist,
and Nutrition Services.
- Daily merging and blending of PT and OT operations to maximize positive
patient outcomes realized from efficient teamwork.
Recognitions and Honors:
In addition to numerous hospital recognitions, staff members have also received
the following:
- OTR of the Year (IOTA)
- National Maddak Award from AOTA
- Distinguished Public Service Award from the Indiana Academy of Family Physicians
for significant contribution to state and community
- Two-time selection for cover of national Occupational Therapy Forum
Cindy Lawson
OTR, Director
GLHS
