DCH Physical Rehabilitation

My experience as a patient in the outpatient rehab facility has been nothing less that great! I begin going before surgery and returned after surgery. I had serve spinal cord compression with lost of sensation from the waist down and the issue that I was confronted with was " will I ever walk again". I went from not walking to the wheelchair and now uses a walker. My goal is to walk without the aid of a device! The staff at under the leadership of Heath does an excellent job! He leads by example and require nothing less than an attitude of par excellence! Chad, Dana and Mike provided most of my therapy while coming there. Somehow, Dana got stuck with me and I have no regrets. She is very professional, serious about her work and does not accept excuses. Her knowledge of pool/water therapy is phenomenal and I appreciate all she taught me about it! DCH Outpatient Rehab is one of the best kept secrets in Tuscaloosa County! As a retired medical provider; I had no idea that many of the services offered were available in this county. Providers need an education on what is available at this facility. I observed that they treat all patients with pride and dignity without regard to socioeconomic class, race or creed. Since I've been a patient and see all of the progress that I've made; I have become a committee of one by telling everyone about this hidden secret! If there was an awareness, there would be a long waiting list of patients wanting to get in and lines wrapped around the building. Donna, thank you for the support which is obvious when I have seen you there. You always ask " how are you doing and is everything all right ". I am sure that your support means a lot!!! I can now continue my personal mission to spread the word about the excellent work going on at DCH Outpatient Rehab! E.T. . .

I wasn't satisfied at all with the "therapy" I was given. The Therapist spent 20 minutes talking about himself and the fact that he was looking at other job opportunities so he could start planning for his retirement. He stated that he'd worked there over 10 years and that when they have holidays they have to use their PTO time. He stated that he'd applied at the TVMA and was hoping to work there in the future and he'd heard that it's hard to get in there. He looked at my chart and decided that I'd do better with core exercises versus the decompression therapy that my doctor had ordered. He left the exam room and was gone for about 15 minutes. Returned with a resistance band and a sheet of exercises. Asked me if I had a problem with getting down on the floor to perform the exercises. I have hard wood floors so that's going to hurt!!! He explained that decompression therapy works about 50/50 and isn't really being recommended that much anymore. He just feels that with me having to pay $30 co-pay per visit it wouldn't have an impact on me....the conversation was much more in depth but in essence he persuaded me against the disc decompression therapy and left me with a sheet of exercises and a resistance band. I will be contacting my insurance company, which pays 100% of the therapy and let them know that I didn't receive the service for which I'd been referred. I was totally appalled at his lack of professionalism and seemingly uncaring attitude towards my physician's orders. It was if he felt as though he knew more about what was best for me and that the doctor was wrong to have ordered that therapy. He was yawning and seemed tired and not very interested!