Restoring Quality of Life is Silver Cross Occupational Therapists’ Mission

Whether you’re recovering from an on-the-job wrist injury, vision impairment, cognitive decline, heart surgery or a severe stroke, the Occupational Therapists at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox make it their mission to help you get stronger physically and mentally in order continue to perform the tasks that you need and want to do every day. 

“Occupational Therapists and Certified Occupational Therapy assistants is more than just a profession to us—it’s a passion, and it’s about the people,” said Ashlie Broadhurst, Clinical Manager of Outpatient Rehabilitation Services at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab at Silver Cross Hospital. “We help each individual by taking the full picture into account, concentrating on what matters most to them.” 

Silver Cross Hospital and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab have partnered for years to expand post-acute physical medicine and rehabilitation services in Will County. Patients now have access to world-class care for a range of conditions close to home. 

This partnership designates Silver Cross as the only healthcare facility in the area with this breadth of services in partnership. 

The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab at Silver Cross team has experience treating a broad range of conditions. Many of the therapists have specialties such as stroke, hands and a driving screen program. Their expertise matters because studies have shown that professionals who treat a larger number of cases of a given condition achieve better outcomes.

 “As we celebrate Occupational Therapy Month in April, I am extremely proud of the Occupational Therapy team throughout the continuum of care—Acute, IP Rehab, Home Health and Outpatient,” said Broadhurst, who has worked in OT at Silver Cross for 10 years. “Although the outpatient Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is on the first floor of Pavilion A, inpatient rehab is on the fifth floor and acute OT care is throughout the hospital, we are a very close team. We work together and communicate to ensure we are providing top quality care.” 

Broadhurst said some of the OTs are trained to work in multiple settings which assists with proper recommendations, education and better outcomes for patients. 

“We help our patients maintain or rebuild their independence and allow them to function at their highest possible level in order to achieve their goals on what is meaningful to them,” she said. “Our therapists make sure to celebrate each little step of improvement along the way and make sure the patient knows those are just as important.” 

The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab at Silver Cross Hospital, which received a 3-year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities for the fifth time, offers skilled OT rehabilitation for patients recovering from varied illnesses and traumas such as: 

• Limb loss & impairment
• Brain injury
• Cancer rehabilitation, peripheral neuropathy
• Arthritis & joint Conditions
• Hand or arm injuries or surgeries
• Parkinson’s Disease & neurologic rehabilitation
• Stroke recovery 

Occupational Therapy is also celebrating the recent passage of the Medicare Home Health Flexibility Act that allows Home Health occupational therapists to conduct the initial home health assessment and open therapy-only home health cases. 

“Occupational Therapy is essential,” said Broadhurst. “So let’s celebrate and promote the importance of OT and pay tribute to the therapists—as well as the patients—for the work they do!”