By Ryan Berry

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — Wayne HealthCare celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Outpatient Rehabilitation Center, 1111Sweitzer St., Greenville, on Tuesday afternoon. Many local residents will remember the site as the former Troutwine’s grocery store located next to Gerschuh’s Restaurant.

Although the rehab center has been around for a quarter of a century, the hospital actually began offering physical therapy services in 1981 with two employees. The program has continued to grow and now includes a variety of therapy and rehabilitation services, including physical and occupational therapy, speech therapy, athletic training and physiatry services. The department boasts over 30 therapists, aides, trainers and associates.

Jim Beyke, director of Rehabilitation Services at Wayne HealthCare, is one of a handful of employees that have been with the department either when it opened in August 1999 or close to that time. He listed those employees as Michelle Young, Cathy Lucente, Lisa Burk with Speech Pathology Services, Inc., and Sarah Rindler, as well as Dee Carrington and Terry Thobe who now have weekend coverage at the hospital.

The director believes he is able to keep his staff intact because it starts with them wanting to help their community. “People that either grew up here or they moved here when they were young adults, they just really value the area. It’s a great place to live and raise a family,” he said. “It always starts with the staff. I think you’ve got to have people that are like-minded in their philosophy in how to take care of patients. They want to come to work. They want to help people. It’s not just a paycheck. We do have a very good staff. They have similar interests outside of work. They even like to hang out.”

Kate Young, PT, who has been with the department for eight years, agreed. “I like working in the community I grew up in. Running into a lot of patients you have a connection to somehow and you get a variety of patients in here,” she said.

With the different types of therapy services offered, the staff gets to see a variety of cases. From the vision of opening the facility 25 years ago to today, the department has continued to grow and much of that is because of the services offered and the cases they see. Beyke said, “The hospital has been good about giving the rehab department the resources we need for growth and expansion. This facility was a big jump from what we had when I first started. We were under a 1,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet.”

Wayne HealthCare President/CEO Jeff Subler said, “The Outpatient Rehabilitation Department is a staple of our organization.” He explained the department’s growth has led to growth in other areas of the hospital. Outpatient rehab is vital for the growth of the hospital’s partnership with Orthopedic Associates and the joint replacement surgeries they do at the hospital. “It’s not just surgery. It’s what you do after surgery, the rehab, in the hospital immediately after surgery and the majority of them come here for post-surgery rehab,” he said. “If we can’t serve those patients, then we can’t do more surgeries.”

Rindler, who has been a physical therapist at the facility for 20 years and was an aide prior to that, joined the staff in 1998. She and Young agreed the older population wants to be more active and the work they are doing helps their patients in that area. Rindler said she likes to work with pediatric patients who have developmental delays. She finds joy in working with kids that might not be able to walk when they come in but are able to when they leave. She finds the same joy with older adults that may come in with the help of a walker but leave on their own two feet.

After 25 years, Beyke has seen a lot of patients come through their doors more than once and he believes those return visits are because of the work the staff is doing. “If we weren’t doing good, quality work they wouldn’t come and see us, even if they like us. We focus on making sure we are meeting their goals. Sometimes we make therapy more complex than it needs to be. It’s a basic philosophy. You’re here to get moving again, to get your life back. To be able to work, to be able to play, to be able to return to sport,” he said.

Wayne HealthCare’s sports medicine team has the same philosophy as the other areas in the rehabilitation department. They want to help get athletes back onto the field. Beyke gave an example of a student that may be in their senior year and had an injury. This may be their last chance to get back on the field or court. His staff wants to work with them to make sure the student ends their athletic career on a high note, and they will do what they can to make it happen.

Unlike some of the bigger hospitals, Wayne HealthCare’s Outpatient Rehabilitation Services doesn’t have the ability to be specialized. “We only have a small group of employees, it’s actually over 30 now, but we need to be able to handle everything that comes our way from developmental delays with pediatric patients to orthopedic injuries with young adults and athletes, joint replacements with people entering their middle and older years, and Parkinson’s Disease,” said Beyke. “We try to be able to provide as many services as we can, but we want to do it very well.”

Subler isn’t sure if those who had the vision of expanding the Outpatient Rehabilitation Services department over 25 years ago ever realized that it would become as encompassing as it has. “Certainly, there was a need to expand. This was probably a great space, but quite frankly, now we’re busting at the seams and need more space. It was certainly a great leap for them and a great vision to turn it into what it is now.”

To contact Daily Advocate Editor Ryan Berry, email [email protected].