Edgewood Manor Holds Therapy Reunion

Amid a room full of balloons and fall decorations, Edgewood Manor honored it’s rehab graduates with their third annual therapy reunion. Approximately 25-30 people returned to the facility to celebrate their regained independent lifestyles. Independence which resulted not only from hard work but the dedication of Edgewood’s skilled and experienced therapy team.

As the party began, Marcella Mowel enchanted the crowd with her beautiful voice while singing popular country melodies. The audience was mesmerized as her powerful vocals engulfed the room with electrifying music.

Everyone in attendance had their hunger satisfied by the delicious luncheon cookout buffet which included hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, macaroni salad, potato salad, and a variety of fresh fruit. After enjoying a sampling of the various foods, the graduates mingled about the room for lots of catching up, conversation, and laughter with fellow rehab success stories as well as staff who miss them.

Door prizes were raffled off with Bill Hogg and Virginia Bevins both winning large gorgeous fall mums and Ed Kowalski winning a $25.00 gift card. All the therapy graduates were given nice Edgewood Manor tote bags and backscratchers to take home with them as well as the best wishes of the entire staff.

“This was really nice. I enjoyed seeing everyone again. If you need therapy, Edgewood is the place to go,” Evelyn Pollock stated confidently. “Their therapists are the best!” All in all, it was a fun and relaxing afternoon with friends that created memories to be talked about at next years’ reunion.

We are pleased to introduce Donna Myers who has been a resident of Edgewood for five months. Donna spent a lifetime serving others in her career as a nurse, and she loved to sing especially in her church choir.

When Donna was admitted to Edgewood, it was because of a hip fracture and a history of falls. Upon admission, she was dependent for all her activities of daily living, was experiencing poor balance, weakness, and low activity tolerance. She could only ambulate three feet with assistance.

During her stay at Edgewood, Donna received Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapy. With much hard work and the help of an excellent therapy team, she now is able to ambulate 270 feet with supervision and completes all of her own activities of daily living without assist. Donna’s persistence and determination pleasantly surprised everyone, and she has successfully met the majority of her therapy goals.

We are all very proud of what Donna has accomplished and are happy she has become a member of our family here at Edgewood. The staff has grown to love her, which isn’t hard to understand when you see her sparkling eyes and beautiful smile.

Virginia Bevins, a recent graduate of Edgewood Manor’s Rehabilitation Program, was used to the independence she enjoyed living on her own. Going to church, shopping, and having lunch with her daughter were just a few of the things she loved doing until she found herself experiencing numbness in her lower extremities and unable to ambulate without help. After a stay in the hospital, she came to Edgewood for therapy.

Upon arriving Virginia could only walk a short distance with assistance, had low activity tolerance, and was experiencing a great deal of pain. After participating in two and a half hours of therapy five days a week, her improvement was evident. By the time Virginia graduated, she was ambulating independently with a walker, experiencing no pain, and had a marked increase in her activity tolerance. The numbness and tingling she felt before admission to Edgewood was gone. “No other place has been able to take the numbness away. I have the feeling back in my legs and feet,” Virginia stated. Through an extensive therapy program that was individualized to her needs, she was able to return home again.

On the day of her discharge, staff joined together to present Virginia with her Homeward Bound certificate and medal. As happy as she obviously was, she was also a little sad. “I enjoyed it here. I’ve been at two other facilities but I liked it here the best. No one else helped me like they did here,” she said. Then Virginia added with a big smile, “I’m going to miss it here. Everyone was really good to me. I would tell anyone who needs therapy to come to Edgewood!”

Lucille Kukay came to Edgewood after she suffered a hip fracture due to a fall. She also experienced severe muscle weakness and loss of strength.

Lucille worked very hard each day to improve her balance and strength spending just over 60 days with our physical and occupational therapists. With confidence, she returned home to her life and family. We are proud of what she accomplished, and pleased we were given the opportunity to assist her in regaining her independence. Congratulations Lucille!

Jean Kehrwecker, one of Edgewood’s latest success stories, lives in Port Clinton with her husband, Ken. Being a wife, mother, and grandmother, she has spent her life making her house a home and taking care of the loved ones she is so very proud of.

After a stay at the hospital, Jean needed to regain her strength and balance. When first arriving at Edgewood, she had low activity tolerance, was only able to walk 50 feet with assistance, and needed help with her activities of daily living. Upon discharge, Jean was ambulating more than 300 feet independently, had regained her balance as well as her activity level, and was independently taking care of herself. Jean said, “The therapists were the greatest people. They kept me busy the whole time and really worked hard with me.” Then she added, “The nursing staff was great too. They all treated me with kindness and were very supportive of all my efforts.”

Jean’s goal upon admission was to be able to go home and do the things she did before such as clean her house and cook meals for her family. She is now home and taking care of her four year old grandson, Hunter, for two weeks while her daughter is out of town. She said, “I would never have been able to do that before.”

Jean would encourage anyone in a “downfall” to go to Edgewood Manor. “The care was great!” She commented, “I came to Edgewood to get better and that’s exactly what I did.”