The COVID-19 healthcare crisis has upended and changed everything about our lives.
In order to slow down the spread of the virus, our schools have closed and businesses deemed as “non-essential” have either gone dark or drastically changed how they interact with members of the public.
Health care services such as those provided by Aberdeen Physical Therapy & Wellness are considered essential and are allowed to remain open. However, having patients coming into an office, sitting in a waiting room with other patients has the potential to put both patients and therapists at risk.
How to best continue delivering the highest quality of care to the community, while protecting patients and staff is something that owners Rick and Terry Young have been researching since first hearing about COVID-19 earlier this year.
Several weeks prior to the announcement of the first COVID-19 case in North Carolina, and long before Governor Cooper’s order to close non-essential businesses, Rick and Terry held an informational meeting for their staff, educating their small team about the potential risks of this new virus.
Aberdeen Physical Therapy & Wellness is located in the David Knight House, a Historical Register Home originally built in 1896.
Educating their team and patients was combined with hiring local firm, The Joy of Cleaning, to professionally sanitize and deep clean the entire facility. The services carried out by the Joy of Cleaning, augmented the best practices already in place at Aberdeen Physical Therapy & Wellness.
“As health care providers, we have a responsibility to educate staff and patients alike to understand and prepare for the virus. We wanted to supply our patients with information instead of having them be afraid of the misinformation that they were hearing.” – Terry Young
Delivering PT via a Telehealth Platform
Armed with a commitment to the health and safety of all, while still serving the patients needing physical therapy, Rick and Terry researched and quickly implemented a cutting edge technology platform that would allow them to continue seeing patients while maintaining social distancing guidelines. In the medical community, this platform is known as Telehealth.
Telehealth, also referred to a telemedicine, has been widely used in remote areas where physical distance between patient and provider is an issue in delivering care.
Both existing and new patients needing physical therapy are now seen by the licensed physical therapists at Aberdeen Physical Therapy & Wellness via a secure and private platform.
Licensed PT Kellie Baker delivering Telehealth Services.
Kellie Baker, PT, DPT is leading the Telehealth effort at the clinic which has been serving residents of the Sandhills community for the past decade.
Services available via Telehealth include initial patient evaluations, a process that involves obtaining information concerning medical history and current ailments, assessing the movements and patterns of a patient, and functional strength and range of motion.
All of this allows the physical therapist to see what factors may be contributing to an individuals’ pain or movement difficulty. After an evaluation has been completed, follow up appointments consist of treatments aimed to address those factors and help improve function and decrease pain.
Wellness and one on one exercise programs are also available.
Wellness Consults Also Available
In addition to traditional physical therapy services, Aberdeen Physical Therapy & Wellness has also implemented wellness consults and personalized exercise programs through their Telehealth platform. Since our favorite gyms and health clubs are now closed temporarily, this is a great way to get personalized, one on one fitness training from a licensed physical therapist.
The Work of Aberdeen Physical Therapy
Founded in 2010 by Terry and Rick Young, Aberdeen Physical Therapy & Wellness has over 100 years of combined experience in physical therapy.
Housed in a historical landmark, the David Knight building on Poplar Street in downtown Aberdeen, the atmosphere inside Aberdeen Physical Therapy & Wellness is homey and nurturing. There are four treatment rooms, a gym, a cozy and welcoming waiting area, in addition to a private treatment room upstairs.
Calming treatment rooms help to facilitate healing.
Kellie has been an employee since August 2019 and when asked what differentiates Aberdeen Physical Therapy & Wellness apart from their competition, her response was educational.
“For me, the difference is the passion we all have for this place and the patients that walk through the doors. Patients are seen one on one, they are also seen by a licensed therapist for their entire course of treatments. This ensures continuity and quality of care.
We take a bio-psycho-social approach to patient care, rather than a bio-medical approach. We consider the whole person in our clinic, including social and psychological aspects of pain. Tissue, anatomy, and movement are just one piece of the pain puzzle.”
You can learn more about Aberdeen Physical Therapy & Wellness by visiting their website, or you can follow them on Facebook.
Feature photo: Rick and Terry Young.
Written by Sandhills Sentinel staff.
