VMH Rehabilitation staff now largest in hospital's history

Veterans Memorial Hospital and RehabVisions are pleased to announce that they have expanded the number of therapists and services in the Veterans Memorial Hospital facility. Two new physical therapists have recently joined the staff, along with a full-time speech therapist, making it the largest rehabilitation department in the hospital’s history.
Alana Gavin, Physical Therapist, joined the Rehabilitation staff at Veterans Memorial Hospital last winter. She received her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from St. Ambrose University in Davenport. Andrea DeRubeis, Physical Therapist, joined the staff earlier this summer. She received her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.
In addition, Stephanie Buchheim, Speech Language Pathologist, joined the Rehab staff earlier this summer. She received her masters degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Iowa.

“We are so thrilled to have added these new staff to our department,” states Amy Robinson, P.T., Rehabilitation Director. “They are all great, highly skilled therapists with great customer service. We are busier than ever and will be more available to our patients and their scheduling needs with these added staff.”
Rehabilitation staff work with people of all ages, helping them to reduce pain and regain strength, independence and health. The Healthy Lifestyles Rehabilitation Center at Veterans Memorial Hospital is fully equipped for all rehabilitation patients with 17 weight machine stations, tread mills, exercise bikes, NuStep and eliptical machines.  The five private treatment rooms allow one-on-one evaluation and treatment with the therapist.
Individual Physical Therapy services provided include athletic training, home health, work hardening/conditioning, wellness programs, headache management, lymphodema therapy and wound care. Four physical therapists currently serve Veterans Memorial Hospital and the surrounding community, including Amy Robinson, P.T., Rehabilitation Director, Laurel Hagensick, P.T., Alana Gavin, P.T., Andrea DeRubeis, P.T., Jessica Carlson, Physical Therapist Assistant, Sara White, Physical Therapist Assistant, Dacia Johnson, Physical Therapist Technician/Office Manager, and Brad Krambeer, Certified Athletic Trainer.

The Occupational Therapist’s role is to help people regain function following injuries and illnesses, treating people who have hip/knee replacement surgery, heart attacks, pneumonia, strokes, diabetes, generalized weakness, breathing difficulties and many other diagnoses.  Hospital therapists Tami Gebel, O.T., Melissa Clarke, O.T. and Bobbi Hansmier, C.O.T.A., specialize in treating people who have broken wrists, hands, or arms to regain strength, movement, and independence in daily activities. Other diagnoses that occupational therapists treat include tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, tendonitis of the wrist, arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Occupational therapists also provide therapy to children in schools who require extra assistance learning the fine motor skills they need in order to write, color, cut, tie shoes and complete other classroom tasks.
As a speech language pathologist, Stephanie Buchheim diagnoses speech and language disorders, along with swallowing disorders, and provides treatment for individuals of all ages. Early detection of language problems in children is also an important role as it influences the overall development of a child and may be the result of additional problems including mental retardation, autism, hearing loss or neurological problems. These language problems should be addressed as early as possible to prevent future problems, such as difficulties in verbal, emotional and educational development.

Physical, Occupational and Speech therapies are provided by these Veterans Memorial Hospital staff members in a variety of settings, to people of all ages. They treat those in the hospital who are recovering from an illness, those who are at home yet come into therapy on an outpatient basis and those who are unable to leave their homes, providing therapy through VMH Community and Home Care.
The Rehabilitation Staff also travel to Waukon Good Samaritan Center, Northgate Care Center and Thornton Manor and provide therapy to the residents.
“It’s great to be able to continue the care of our patients as they transition from the hospital to the nursing home settings,” states Robinson. “That way our patients are able to work with the same therapist in all locations for better continuity of care.”
“Traveling the Allamakee County area and treating patients in their homes has been an interesting challenge for all of us,” adds Robinson. “We try to go the extra mile for our patients by analyzing their surroundings and making adaptive equipment to help them be more independent while living on their own.”

The therapy staff is available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., providing treatment for patients around their busy schedules, saving them the time and effort of driving out of the area for their physical therapy.
For more information on the rehabilitation services available at Veterans Memorial Hospital, contact Amy Robinson, P.T., Rehabilitation Director, at 563-568-3411.