Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / Reclaiming Real Life
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- Rick Outzen: Welcome back. I'm Rick Altson. This is Rick's blog live. Florida West, their rehabilitation center last week had a ribbon cutting for outdoor physical therapy area. It state of the art. And to help us understand it and learn more about it, we've got Dr. Christopher Burton, who's the medical director ⁓ for the center. Thank you so much for coming. It's a pleasure from the patients. I mean, it the pictures I've seen are amazing. Dr. Christopher Burton: Pleasure, Rick. Glad to be here. You know, our parent the patients, the members, the staff are all just so excited. When they walk in you know, a rehab facility, they expect, you know, four walls, a gym. But when they to see our outdoor area where they get to try new things, you know for them, it gets them it gets part of the community again and they really feel engaged. They've really been very enthusiastic about it. Rick Outzen: Well yeah, I I you gotta think, you know, well, for our for our viewers what are the ⁓ are the s the ⁓ services are available in the outdoor area. Dr. Christopher Burton: Yeah, so of course have basketball, of my first loves. We've got a putting green, we've got pickleball court, and then we've an area where you can walk on uneven surfaces, because that's one of the things we measure in our physical therapy activities. So there's everything from you know, grass, gravel, stepping over curbs, inclines, slopes, ramps, ⁓ for wheelchair access, of course sand for ⁓ Imitating walking on the beach, just like you would wanna do here in Pensacola. Rick Outzen: Well you would think you would think then that would make for your team using facility to come up with creative ways to do rehab ⁓ rather ⁓ like said in more a you know a medical clinic type but to do it when it's outside, ⁓ that's gotta add that's add some excitement for your Dr. Christopher Burton: yeah, like I said earlier, they they love doing that. They love being able to get outside with the patients. You you can go anywhere and walk on a treadmill, but where are you gonna get to go walk outside, get to test your patient, make sure they can do everything they need to do, whether it's going up a curb, getting out of their ⁓ their wheelchair walking on gravel if they have a gravel driveway at home. So we get to test them on just about any kind of environment that they might encounter on a daily basis. Rick Outzen: ⁓ and and to do it in a real a little bit more of a real life type situ. Real world. Yeah, what what kind of patient is this good for? I mean this the the outdoor. it a particular one that this is best? Dr. Christopher Burton: Real world. Yeah, well we ⁓ any of our patients who are capable, we like to encourage them to be outside 'cause nothing like fresh air, sunshine to really energize the soul. in the green space, the trees, the ⁓ beautiful trees we have there. that's a a healing environment. ⁓ So we and get as many out there as possible, but definitely with our patients, we're certified in stroke, brain injury and spinal cords, so we do focus on the neuro rehab patients. but we also get a lot of you know ⁓ injuries ⁓ Hip fractures, those sorts of things. you know, getting people used to walking again ⁓ you've just had a hip surgery or hip replacement, for and getting them back into to their normal activities again. Whether that's somebody who do much, they just needed to be able to to walk, or if it's somebody who was active playing pickleball or golf on a regular basis, we want to get them back to at least a minimum of where they were at before, if not exceeding their prior level of Yeah, you gotta Rick Outzen: think that that ⁓ my end looking at it is you know, of course rehabilitation lot of it is the physical side, but for to able to this outside and do it in a it's got to be a a huge win. Dr. Christopher Burton: Mentally it makes a big difference when you can something in in your real world Because if you go and you've never tried going over a real or taking that step on an surface like ⁓ gravel or paved stone, then you're gonna be anxious, you're gonna nervous. So it does give them a lot more confidence when they go home. And we're blessed ⁓ eighty five percent or of our actually up home. ⁓ which is well above the national average of around seventy percent for most rehab facilities. so part of that is giving them that real world experience, giving them the confidence, hey, they can do this when they go. Rick Outzen: Is there any I know it's still early in in in opening up that area, but is there any patient moment sort of stands out that you've noticed? Dr. Christopher Burton: It it would almost be hard to pick just one but it because the reception has been so overwhelmingly positive. we had a bilateral amputee ⁓ who was to get up ⁓ and the ⁓ the golf actually was our challenge for that first day. Right. So yeah, taking somebody like and giving them the opportunity to see, hey, ⁓ you know, you this ⁓ negative health event, bad happened, but you can make the best of it. Your life is not gonna be limited you can do everything you wanna do. Yeah, and that's what our therapists are there for. Help them help patients see what's possible. You ⁓ I love it. I wouldn't do anything else. Rick Outzen: this, don't you? I I just I could tell it it it's it's to be ⁓ reaffirming for for ⁓ know, education, your life to be able to see ⁓ making these life differences with people. Dr. Christopher Burton: It's very rewarding when you get to get people back to their family, back to work, back to their hobbies, back home again. That is the we hope for in medicine. You know, a lot of times you know, you go to your primary they they give you a medicine or they you know, try and help you ex minimize symptoms or extend life some Yeah, for us it's about the function, make making the quality of life so much better, making it enjoyable. Rick Outzen: Well, it it's it this is a a an unbelievable good f facility. your that number, the percentage that y'all get back ⁓ home huge. th that is it's it's amazing. I I really appreciate you coming on and to learn more about what y'all are doing. It's y'all are way up there on on Davis Highway, so Dr. Christopher Burton: Yeah, we are we're up on the north side of town, but yeah, community has expanded so much since I started working here years back and it's amazing see how we've grown and developed. And it's great see the abilities that we have now that we didn't have before because of the investments ⁓ the HCA's put in. Yes. ⁓ They're ⁓ they've invested three dollars in interior renovations on our inpatient rehab unit for all new private rooms, redesigned, modern everything. ⁓ plus the half a million dollar investment in the the outdoor space. obviously I work there, but you know, for the community as a whole, it's a great to see that of investment in keeping our here locally to help them rehabilitate, helping them to to maximize their return to the community. Rick Outzen: Well great. Well thank you so much for coming on. We'll have to do this we'll have to do this again. We'll get you the get you come downtown one more time. Thank you. Listen, this is I have this is Rick's blog live. I'm Rick Outson. We're gonna take a break. We'll be right back. Dr. Christopher Burton: It's a pleasure. Thank you so much.