Cape Cod’s Pleasant Bay Nursing & Rehabilitation Center: 1^st U.S. SNF To Offer Bionic Leg Therapy

Although more than half of stroke patients suffer long-term gait impairments, those on Cape Cod and the Islands now have the opportunity to recover much of their pre-stroke capabilities at Pleasant Bay Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Brewster, MA (http://www.pleasantbaycenters.com/). Pleasant Bay is the first skilled nursing facility in the nation to offer rehabilitation services with the Tibion Bionic Leg.

“We are extremely excited about being the nation’s first skilled nursing facility to offer this state of the art technology to patients with neurological/muscular lower extremity impairments,” said Roxanne Webster, RN, director of operations at Pleasant Bay Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Ms. Webster notes that many chronic patients diagnosed with a stroke or other neurological deficits are unaware that they have nearly $2000 in Medicare Part B benefits they could utilize towards Bionic Leg rehab therapy services at Pleasant Bay Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Bionic Leg added to Pleasant Bay’s high-tech rehab investment

Pleasant Bay owner Joshua Zuckerman reports that the Bionic Leg is just the Center’s most recent investment in technology, personnel, and facilities, with the objective of becoming Cape Cod’s leading provider of rehabilitation services to stroke patients and others with acute or chronic conditions.

“In addition to the Bionic Leg, we invested in the region’s only HydroWorx underwater treadmill and video feedback system, which helps patients with gait and balance impairment recover, minimizing joint stress,” Mr. Zuckerman said.

“Pleasant Bay Nursing and Rehabilitation Center can accept many patients directly from an acute care hospital, and then transition them to outpatient rehabilitation while they live at home or in our assisted living apartments,” he explains.

“At our assisted living facility, The Woodlands, we provide the full range of around-the-clock services that seniors need.  We provide transportation services to and from our outpatient center.  Patient, families, and doctors can be assured of optimal care.”

First Pleasant Bay patient to rehab with Bionic Leg:  Orleans resident Mary Bosley

The first Pleasant Bay patient to receive Bionic Leg therapy was 77-year-old Dr. Mary Bosley, who suffered a stroke while visiting family on the west coast in early October.  Mary’s family relocated her to Pleasant Bay to capitalize on that facility’s unique span of inpatient/outpatient rehabilitation services, which include the Bionic Leg, as well as its varied post inpatient senior residential options.

“I have been very encouraged by my improved ability to stand up without using my good (right) arm for support,” Dr. Bosley says in describing her results from Bionic Leg therapy.  “From the first time I used it, I could take many more steps and was able to climb stairs with it”.

Nury Cronin, OTR/L, director of rehabilitation services at Pleasant Bay, reports that Dr. Bosley has made remarkable progress since starting Bionic Leg therapy in early January, improving her ability to ambulate up to 200 feet with only “contact guard assist.”

“We see a tremendous amount of carryover into her daily routine”, Mrs. Cronin says.

“As a result she can now ambulate about as far without the Bionic Leg at the end of the treatment sessions, just using a cane.  She has greatly improved her posture, balance, and proprioception which have improved her confidence with the rest of her rehabilitation,” Ms. Cronin reports.

“She can stand, reach out for objects, and attend to many activities of daily living with minimal assistance.”

Another patient recovers sufficient mobility with Bionic Leg therapy to qualify for assisted living

Ms. Cronin describes another patient, a woman in her 70s, who had been an inpatient of Pleasant Bay’s SNF under her Medicare A benefits, and wanted to become a resident of the facility’s Woodlands assisted living facility.  However, an evaluation by Woodlands staff disclosed that the patient required too many aides to qualify for assisted living setting.

“Therefore, we decided to continue her intensive rehabilitation program involving the Bionic Leg modality under her Medicare Part B benefits,” Mrs. Cronin recalls.  “In a few weeks she recovered enough independent mobility to qualify for assisted living – which none of us could have foreseen without Bionic Leg therapy.”

A third Pleasant Bay stroke inpatient rehabilitated with the Bionic Leg recovered enough mobility to be able to return home with his wife, Mrs. Cronin said, and will return to Pleasant Bay for outpatient therapy.

Pleasant Bay Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is an independently owned and operated health care provider that offers a wide range of outpatient and inpatient services, in addition to the Bionic Leg therapy.  Its sub-acute rehabilitation unit provides physical, occupational, and speech pathology therapies 7 days a week to patients that need rehabilitation to accelerate their recovery to return home.  In addition the facility also offers to the community outpatient services.  The 5,000 square foot rehabilitation department is equipped with advanced technology, including an underwater treadmill, an underwater deep tissue massage therapy, cardiovascular/muscular recovery equipment, electrical stimulation, and ultrasound among many other modalities.