the campaign to advance norman regional health system’s...

The Campaign to Advance Norman Regional Health System’s Rehabilitation Services

RENEW our commitment to patients.

Help patients RECLAIM their independence.

Give patients the tools to REBUILD their lives.

Who WE ARE

The role of philanthropy in health care is becoming more and more critical. To put it simply, revenues are decreasing and expenses are increasing. The role of the Norman Regional Health Foundation is to raise and distribute funds that support the lifesaving work performed at Norman Regional Health System. This critical role is essential to our Health System’s survival. Through the gifts of our generous donors, the Norman Regional Health Foundation provides funding to advance patient programs, purchase cutting edge medical technology, and provide scholarships to students in health care related fields.

Anne Clouse, Executive DirectorNorman Regional Health Foundation

Why ThIs PRojECT MATTERs

For the last 15 years, our residents have come to Norman Regional’s Rehabilitation Hospital with challenges that have changed the course of their lives. Whether they suffered a traumatic injury from a car accident or experienced a severe stroke, our patients all have one goal in common: to recover basic skills that give them great joy, such as holding their children, taking a walk outside or talking with a friend.

They deserve the best care available right here at home. Norman Regional has a top-notch, experienced and skilled team of rehabilitation doctors, therapists and nurses. Now, we need a facility that is truly a place of healing and the most advanced tools to help our patients in their recovery. Norman Regional Health Foundation is leading a campaign to raise money to advance our Rehabilitation Services program, and we need your help.

ThE CoMMUNITy IMPACT: Last year, the Rehabilitation Hospital served 398 inpatients, 78.8 percent of whom were able to return home after discharge. Since opening in 1998, the program has impacted more than 5,000 families in our community. In 2011, our Outpatient Rehabilitation program served 3,022 new patients for a total of 26,603 patient visits.

ThE PRojECT DETAILs: The project is multi-faceted and includes improvements to every area of our Rehabilitation Services program. The funds from this campaign will be used to renovate our facilities, update our equipment and advance our therapies.

The project will benefit… The Norman Regional Rehabilitation Hospital The Norman Regional Physical Performance Center The Moore Medical Center Physical Rehabilitation Services

NoRMAN REGIoNAL hEALTh FoUNDATIoN

johN MARsh, sTRokE sURvIvoR

John Marsh has an unbreakable spirit. At his prime, he was a successful businessman who enjoyed singing in a quartet and performing for an audience. In 2006, John’s life changed forever when he suffered a severe stroke that left him unable to speak or move. He was forced to relearn how to swallow, stand and walk again.

John spent 21 days in Norman Regional’s Rehabilitation Hospital. Every day, therapists worked with John to help him recover basic skills. John put his faith in the staff to help him get better. Thanks to the therapy he received at Norman Regional, John can now talk and walk again.

“We are so grateful for the care John received at Norman Regional. Everyone was so wonderful.” John’s wife, Shirley, said.

John also received groundbreaking restraint-induced therapy, but not at Norman Regional. Unfortunately, John and Shirley had to travel to Alabama – the closest place that offered this therapy. With the appropriate funding, more specialized therapy can be provided locally.

John continues his recovery by participating in a stroke survivor’s support group led by Norman Regional’s speech therapists. Although John has difficulties speaking and walking, his singing voice still remains as clear and powerful as ever. John sometimes even treats the group to a song. A stroke could have broken his spirit, but it didn’t.

Renovations will completely modernize our Rehabilitation Hospital at Norman Regional and bring new and advanced therapies to help in our patients’ recovery. Therapies, like the one John had to travel out of state to receive, will be provided locally.

RENovATING oUR REhABILITATIoN hosPITAL

Renovations to the Rehabilitation Hospital will promote whole body healing and provide an environment that is safe and calming for our patients.

Removing walls and re-configuring wasted space will increase gym space by 45 percent. This will allow us to add much needed therapy equipment.

Each patient room will receive new surfaces, flooring, window treatments, and fixtures to help create a more healing environment for our patients. New bedside furniture will be added so patients may keep family close during their stay.

Improvements will include the addition of a family entertainment area where patients and their families will be able to socialize, watch movies, and play games.

Re-designing work areas will increase comfort and safety for our staff and allow them to work faster and more effectively.

Family Entertainment Area

Anna, Pediatric Patient


ExPANDING oUR PEDIATRIC ThERAPy RooM

Expanding our pediatric therapy program to include a new gym and new therapy equipment will elevate the level of care we provide to our littlest patients.

Creating a pediatric therapy room for pediatric patients will provide a healing environment that is child-friendly and free of outside distractions.

Adding iPads® to our pediatric therapy program will allow us to use applications specifically designed to enhance speech, language and cognitive skills in a manner that excites children and encourages them by making therapy fun.

Our pediatric therapy is growing rapidly. Pediatric patients with special needs will be able to receive their therapy in a safe environment with the latest and greatest in pediatric therapy medicine and technology.

ANNA, DIAGNosED WITh RARE MUsCLE DIsEAsE

Anna was a typical four year-old, full of life and energy. But in June of 2011, Anna’s mother noticed her once active daughter suddenly become different. At first, her mother thought Anna was being lazy. She began having trouble lifting a spoon to her mouth and taking the lids off her markers. Then Anna started to fall a lot.

“At first I thought it was just her shoes, but she kept falling,” Anna’s mother said.

Anna’s condition continued to get worse.

“She would sit and watch other kids play on the playground,” her mother said. “I was so sad for her.”

When Anna began to have difficulty swallowing her food, her doctor sent her to the hospital. After a barrage of tests, Anna was diagnosed with a rare muscle disease called dermatomyoisties. This inflammatory disease affects the muscles, skin, and blood vessels.

Anna came to Norman Regional’s Physical Performance Center to regain her strength. The right combination of medicine and physical therapy helps prevent muscle wasting and stiffness in children with dermatomyoisties. For Anna, therapy is fun. She and her therapist roll on bouncy balls, chase bubbles, and dance.

Now Anna has returned to the thing she loves the most – playing. A happy six year-old, she can swing from the monkey bars, run up steps, and push her way down the slide. Anna’s mother is grateful for the care she received at Norman Regional. “I’m really thankful for the doctors, nurses, and therapists,” her mother said.

With your help, renovations will include a new pediatric therapy room with new therapy equipment for our littlest patients.

ADvANCING ThERAPIEsTo MEET oUR PATIENTs’ NEEDs

New and advanced therapies will include the latest in acute rehabilitation medicine and technology. Patients will no longer have to travel outside our community to receive the therapy they need.

Updated equipment and training will allow our therapists to provide stroke patients and traumatic brain injury patients the latest in evidence-based care.

New wireless computer tablets will allow therapists to spend more time with patients and less time documenting at their desks.

Addition of WalkAide® equipment and staff training will enhance our current therapy for patients with walking difficulties due to stroke or brain injury. This will allow us to intervene early on in the treatment of drop-foot, returning patients to independent walking earlier and more safely.

Constraint-induced therapy is a new treatment approach for increasing arm function following stroke or traumatic head injury. While highly supported by research, this form of therapy is currently not available in Oklahoma. With your help, Norman Regional will be the first program in the state to offer this therapy.

The VitalStim® is a device used to help patients with difficulty swallowing. Updating this equipment to a newer model will allow us to expand this therapy to include a wider variety of patients including those with Parkinson’s disease and head and neck cancer patients.

The VitalStim®, WalkAide® and constraint-induced therapy equipment are just a few of the many therapies that will be updated through this project.


“Your donation to the Foundation will help us improve facilities and rehabilitation technologies. With the help of our donors we will advance the Rehabilitation Care Unit at Norman Regional from good to great. The investments you are making will allow us to be one of the premier providers of inpatient rehabilitation services in all of Oklahoma. With a growing aging population, having such a center of excellence within the Norman area will provide truly state of the art rehabilitation services for our community.”

Stephen Yang, MDMedical Director – Rehabilitation Center

LUCIANA hoLDEN,RECovERING FRoM BACk INjURy

Luciana “Lucy” Holden was living a life full of activity. She tended a large garden. She loved to cook for her two grandchildren. And she danced weekly with her husband Mark.

Then a back injury put her full life on hold. After a knee replacement, Lucy began having excruciating pain in her back.

“I couldn’t lift my arms to do my hair,” Lucy said. “I couldn’t even stand up for very long.”

Doctors discovered a screw from an old injury pushing on a nerve in her back. Lucy had surgery to fix the problem and her doctor recommended physical and aquatic therapy at the Norman Regional Physical Performance Center. The center has Norman’s only saltwater pool used for therapy. The pain relief was immediate when she got into the water.

“My therapist asked me what I wanted to accomplish. I said, ‘I want to dance again,’” Lucy said. “The therapists were friendly and professional, but most importantly – they listened to me.”

Lucy and Mark live in Goldsby but drove to Purcell weekly to dance. The friends they met while dancing were like family, Mark said. A family Lucy missed seeing for months because of her injury.

But now, a familiar face is back among the line dancing and two-stepping. She is also back to gardening, cooking, and, most importantly, spending time with her grandkids. Thanks to the therapy she received at Norman Regional, Lucy is back doing what she loves.

Renovations will incorporate new and advanced therapies for our Outpatient program at the Physical Performance Center in Norman.


BUILDING INDEPENDENCE PARk,oUTDooR ThERAPy CoURsE

The construction of an outdoor therapy course will help our patients overcome challenges they will face outside their home when they leave our hospital. It will be one of only two outdoor therapy courses found in the state of Oklahoma.

The course is designed and created by our outstanding team of physical therapists specifically to help patients navigate various surfaces and barriers they will encounter after rehabilitation.

These outdoor challenges are designed to give patients who are rehabilitating the opportunity to build strength, practice real-world skills and face challenges that prepare them for returning to the most active life possible.

The course will allow patients to practice walking over gravel, wood chips, sand and rubber. There will be bolsters, stairs and ramps. All the outdoor barriers patients who are learning how to walk again will encounter outside their homes.

The course also includes elements for recreational therapy such as a putting green, basketball goal, horseshoe pit and a garden. This will help our patients return to things they love to do. With recreational therapy, therapists take difficult tasks and make them fun for the patient.

WE NEED yoUR hELP

Your help will make a tremendous impact on the patients we serve. Your gift will help patients rebuild their lives and reclaim their independence. Together, we will provide the best quality health care right here at home.

Andy Paden, Norman Regional Health Foundation Board President

“The thing I love about this community is that we have a standard of excellence in everything that we do. Donors to the Norman Regional Health Foundation will take our Rehabilitation Services from adequate to excellent. It is our goal to provide our patients the best possible care here where they live. Please join me and my family in

making a financial donation to this worthy cause, today, so that our standard of excellence in Norman continues for years to come.”

Randy Laffoon, Norman Regional Health Foundation Campaign

“As a long-time member of the community, it is important to me to have access to excellent health care here at home. It is hard on our patients and their families when they have to travel outside our community to receive the services they need. With the help of our donors, we can make Rehabilitation Services one of the premier rehabilitation care units

in the state. Our patients will receive access to the most advanced therapies right here where they live.”


P.O. Box 1665 Norman, OK 73070405.307.1077 NRHFoundation.org

oUR MIssIoN Norman Regional Health Foundation’s mission is to “enhance excellent health care.” We accomplish this by supporting Norman Regional Health System’s mission of providing “...quality and compassionate health care services and education to our regional community in a responsive, efficient and safe manner.”

oUR vIsIoN The Foundation also supports the Health System’s vision of improving “...the quality of life in our regional community.” Donations to the Foundation promote health-related events in the regional communities served by Norman Regional Health System.

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