From Crisis To Capability: Why Specialized Rehab Matters For A Lifetime

Ready to trade confusion for a clear plan after a major injury or surgery? We sit down with physical therapist and senior clinical liaison Amanda Schmidt to unpack how acute inpatient rehab helps people walk, talk, eat, and think again through three hours a day of focused, physician-led therapy. If you’ve ever wondered who qualifies, what really happens in those sessions, and why a short stay can pay off for decades, this conversation delivers the answers.

Amanda explains the specialized programs that make Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehab in Dallas stand out: model system designations for brain and spinal cord injury, CARF accreditations across multiple conditions, and daily physician coverage that keeps complex cases medically safe. We get practical about admission criteria, break down the difference between physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, and explore how depression and motivation shape recovery for both patients and families. The heart of it is realistic hope: healing is a journey, and the right team makes the next step safer and smarter.

We also spotlight innovations that accelerate progress—bodyweight-supported treadmill training to hardwire normal gait, exoskeletons that bring patients upright for meaningful reps, seating clinics with pressure mapping to prevent wounds, and technology clinics that match people with communication and access tools that actually fit their lives. From early safety planning to weekly family training and tailored discharge options like home health, outpatient therapy, day neuro, and neuro transitional apartments, you’ll hear how a coordinated system turns crisis into capability and independence.

If you or someone you love is facing stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputation, multi-trauma, or transplant recovery, this episode is your guide to getting the right care at the right time. Subscribe, share this with a caregiver who needs clarity, and leave a review to tell us what questions you want us to tackle next.

Transcript

Welcome And Purpose Of The Show

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Journey Out Podcast. We have another amazing episode for you locked in for today. But first, as always, please be sure to like, share, and subscribe. Please tell everybody that you know about the Journey Out Podcast because we are really bringing the community at large resources that they can use on a practical, every day-to-day level. So let's just hop right into this amazing episode.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

I know some people cry hard. I'm never coming from the square face. Journey Out, Journey Out Podcast. Welcome to the Journey Out Podcast.

Meet Amanda Schmidt And Her Role

SPEAKER_04 1:24

All right. Welcome back to the episode. Yes, yes. Welcome, Mustang, welcome back to the podcast. So we have amazing guest, Miss Amanda Schmidt. Now, Amanda, you have a long title after a name. So I need you to tell us who you are, what you do, and all about that title that you have.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Okay. Um, I always put all my credentials because I paid a lot of money for those. And it took a lot of time for me to get all of that. So I always list it. But my name's Amanda Schmidt. I'm a physical therapist. I have a doctorate in physical therapy. I've a master's of science, so that's why it's MSPT D P T. But um, I, like I said, I'm a physical therapist. I've been in practice for 18 years now. I spent the first half of my career at John Pierre Smith Hospital, um, which is a nonprofit hospital in Fort Worth. And again, we were talking uh prior to airing that you know God lays the path down, and he put me at JPS and Angels Walk There, and it was an amazing experience. And the second half of my career, I've been at Baylor Scott and White Institute for Rehab. Um, currently I am with the Dallas team. I did spend a few years in a couple other fields, so hospice and then senior living with Civitas, um, assisted living in memory care. And the Lord put me there. I learned so much from those two amazing companies. And um now I'm back in rehab. My physical therapist heart was just it had to had to come back. And the Lord called me back to an amazing team. So previously I was with the Fort Worth team. Now I'm working with the Dallas team, which is kind of our hub for Baylor Rehab. Um, it's a larger, we have uh many programs happening. We'll talk about that more later, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah.

What Acute Inpatient Rehab Treats

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Um, so now I am one of the senior clinical liaisons at Baylor Scott and White Institute for Rehab in Dallas. I um my main focus is business development for both the inpatient rehab side and for our outpatient day neurocenters. Um, Baylor is located on the Baylor University Medical Center campus, so we're connected by a tunnel. Um, so that's kind of the big spot that everybody knows where it's at, and we're right beside it.

SPEAKER_04 3:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Awesome. All right. Well, since we got a little background on you, okay, what types of patients uh do you at Baylor specialize in? And what makes y'all different than any other rehab?

Model Systems And Specialized Teams

SPEAKER_00 3:59

I love to talk about rehab and not just Baylor, but the level of care. So the acute impatient rehab setting is is a very specialized setting that I think is extremely important and oftentimes overlooked by other levels of care. But I hope that through the podcast today you all understand the types of patients that will benefit from the intensive services at acute impatient rehab. So the types of patients at Baylor Dallas that we specialize in are brain injury, spinal cord injury, multi-trauma, amputees, strokes, and we work very closely with the um Bum C Campus, which is Baylor University Medical Center, and their transplant team. So we treat many, many transplant patients as well. What makes us different, what makes Baylor so amazing, which is why I love this company, is that we in Dallas are a model system. So what a model system is, we're a model system for both brain injury and for spinal cord injury. So that means that we partner with Bum C to conduct research and to also implement research findings. We follow patients through a lifetime with brain injury and spinal cord so that we can see how what we did at our level of care affected their entire life.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Um, so it's pretty amazing. That's awesome. We have um our we have teams. So we have a brain injury team, we have a spinal cord team, we have amputee team as well, transplants. So that means we have doctors assigned to each one of those teams and therapists who only treat those types of patients. So talk about a specialized approach to care that you won't find anywhere else where you have a doctor and a treatment team that sees stroke all day, every day, and have been at Baylor for 10 plus years. I'm the new kid on the block with only I was with Baylor previously five years and now um about six months. You know, I'm relatively new compared to um the tenure that's on our campus. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 6:04

And and you know, when we went and we did a little tour, I seen the therapists and the nurses did how they were how they were engaged with the patients, right? And it was it was intentional engagement, right? Right. And it was beautiful things.

SPEAKER_04 6:18

It really was. And I think when you have all those teams from trauma, you know, all that you talked about, I know there are special accreditations that come come with that because you guys are targeting a multitude of things, but also patients who are coming in for different things. So, what special accreditations does uh Benscounter White Institute Rehab have?

Accreditations And National Rankings

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Okay, so um we have many. Uh and again, another reason to be very proud of what we do at Baylor Dallas. We have 13 CARF accreditations, and of course, we're JCO certified. So CARF and JCO are independent accrediting agencies that come in and review our hospital and make sure that we're functioning at the highest standards of excellence, right? Not only now, but that we also have implemented plans for the future to maintain that excellence. So we have 13 CARF accreditations. I'll highlight just a few. Um we are brain injury and spinal cord injury, CARF accredited for adults and adolescents. So that's a pretty cool thing having the adolescent piece. Right. And then amputees and stroke. Um we also, I'm not done yet.

SPEAKER_04 7:28

There's listen. All you guys do, I don't I don't expect nothing less. I don't expect nothing less.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

So we are also consistently recognized by Newsweek, and that's all of our hospitals. So Dallas, Fort Worth, Frisco, and Irving were recognized consistently every year by Newsweek as being one of the top in the region. And our big uh party announcement that we've been celebrating for a couple of months now is that Baylor Dallas was ranked eighth by U.S. News and World Report as the eighth best rehab hospital in the nation.

SPEAKER_03 8:01

Oh, congratulations. Wow. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_04 8:04

That's awesome, mm-hmm. That is awesome. Well, so you guys aren't just getting accredited, accreditations and just getting tired of saying, look what we can do. There's also proof in the pudding. Like you're seeing the pretty much the quality of life change for everybody who has gone through rehab and now are coming home, and you you've seen the progression due to you all's I guess intentionality. Like how you guys really care for the patient. So I absolutely love that. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

So what are your admission criteria for someone that's seeking to or that have these injuries, right? Or have been through this trauma in their life. What is your admission criteria?

Admission Criteria And Three-Hour Rule

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Admission criteria, and this is acute inpatient rehab in general. So this is everyone, you know, and Baylor included. And that is that the patient has to have uh the we have to think that the patient can participate in three hours of therapy per day. That doesn't mean they've ever done three hours of therapy per day. In fact, none of us have probably ever done three hours of therapy per day unless we've been to acute inpatient rehab before. So um, it just means that we can tell that they have the ability to participate in three hours. It's not three hours of pumping iron in the gym. You gotta solve that. Yes, it's we bring in, you know, our goal is to help people walk, talk, eat, and think again. And if you take a second to think about if you couldn't do one of those four things, whether it's walk, talk, eat, think, all of those things significantly impact your life. Um, and so we so the therapy is divided among all many things, including cognitive task and swallowing and things like that. The other um admission piece is that um our patients have to require medical oversight. So we have an extensive medical team, um, specialists, nurses, wound care, uh, physicians, therapists, um, and so they have to require something that we're managing medically, whether that's blood pressure, diabetes, you know, a whole host of comorbidities that people may have. Um and so really it's it's fairly simple um as far as just the baseline admission criteria.

SPEAKER_04 10:20

Right. And so, and I don't want it to get confused because I know we we've talked about brain injuries, pronouncing. I want to talk as basic as a car accident, right? Those things, when those things happen, they are also a candidate for rehab, isn't that correct?

Motor Vehicle Trauma And Hidden Brain Injury

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Oh, a hundred percent. Um, typically in uh motor vehicle accidents, we see all kinds of things. So it could be that's where multi-trauma falls into place. So it's broken bones, maybe uh organ damage because of things hitting the abdominal cavity, maybe seatbelt, and now we have respiratory um uh disorders. Maybe they were unconscious, they got knocked knocked on unconscious. Uh well, that uh many times is is a hidden brain injury and they're because of a lack of oxygen to the brain. And so, yeah, absolutely, motor vehicle accidents, any any of them, you know, bikes, trains, planes, all of it, cars, um, fall buildings, right? Unfortunately, um, you know, accidents where you're falling off of something, um 100% candidates for it. Right.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

So since since y'all see uh, for lack of better words, uh a multitude, right, of different types of injuries, right? What therapies does your patients receive?

Therapy Disciplines And How They Differ

SPEAKER_00 11:36

So first, whenever somebody's admitted into our hospital, we have physician-led teams uh who come in and do a head-to-toe assessment. They look at everything, including the medical record that we've gotten on the front end. So we're doing a complete head-to-toe assessment, physicians, wound care, therapy team, respiratory therapy. Everyone's looking at, you know, what is going on with this patient and how can we better serve them. Right. Once those assessments are done, then that's when we decide do they need all three disciplines, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, or do they only need two out of the three? Some of our patients don't necessarily need the speech therapy piece. They need physical and occupational therapy. So then they'll get that. But on top of those therapies, we have um recreational therapy, neuropsychology, we also have neurooptometry, we have aquatic therapy for patients who would benefit from that. Um, and so there's uh a variety of things, but for the three-hour role, it's physical, occupational, and speech. So they get at least three hours of PCOT or speech, and then the rest is in addition to that.

SPEAKER_04 12:48

Well, I was gonna say, can so for someone who doesn't know much of anything regarding therapy or rehab or nothing, can you break down the difference between physical therapy and occupational therapy? Of course, we understand speech, but you can break that down as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Okay, yeah. So that goes back to the four things walk, talk, eat, and think again. So physical therapy, we are help I say we because I'm physical therapist. We um we're helping people get up and be mobile. So what does that look that look like? Is that standing up and walking? Is that transferring into a wheelchair? Not only do we want them to be mobile, our goal, I used to tell uh my patients on the front end as I was evaluating them, our goal is to get you out of bed. Right. How can we get you out of bed and how can we make you the most independent at that as possible? Whether that's walking, whether that's wheelchair, power chair, manual chair, whatever that is. Um, so and of course, strengthening. Everything involves strengthening. Right. Then occupational therapy comes in, they bring in some of the cognitive peace because we're looking at activities of daily living. So that's um eating, dressing, bathing, combing your hair, synchrocing those tasks, also strengthening the muscles that require you to thread your arm through an arm sleeve or to pull your um pants up and button them, things like that. Um, that takes a lot of uh of cognitive capabilities that you know a lot of people don't realize.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

And then speech therapy looks at swallow and cognition as well. So we're make as a speech therapist, they're making sure the muscles are strong enough for the patient to swallow. If they aren't, how are we gonna strengthen those? Um, and then what kind of diet? So eating. So how are we gonna enable them to eat and how do we progress them? So we're not just trying to get them on a diet and leave them there, we're trying to progress them and also make them independent with eating. So um it's a it's a collaboration. And then speech therapy also, of course, brings in a huge cognitive component. It's amazing to see our speech and to listen to our speech therapists work. Well, all of our therapists, you guys saw it. Um, it's uh it just helping patients and progressing them in that thinking part of it, right? Right, which is so essential.

Motivation, Depression, And Family Impact

SPEAKER_03 15:01

So so as a physical therapist, right? What is the hardest thing that you've seen with dealing with a patient and the hardest thing that that family member had to endure?

SPEAKER_00 15:14

I would say the hardest thing uh treating is when someone is not motivated for one reason or another, depression. Because as soon, I always say any hospitalization or procedure I've ever had, it gives me the blues. You know? And so imagine somebody who wakes up and they can't move their legs. Um, they can't feed themselves, they can't think, their their thoughts are jumbled up. And it can lead to depression where they just don't want to get up. And that's what a lot of acute care therapists work with on the front end, and of course, inpatient rehab therapists do too. But those therapists in our hospitals at JPS, at Bum C, um, who are getting those patients up for the first time and educating them on what happened and what what their life is gonna look like now and what their rehab process is gonna look like now is the most difficult. I'm sitting here like, is that what you asked? I'm talking about this.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

No, you no, no, but Pam, you answering it because Pen you you you've been firsthand where you where you have dealt with those patients, right? And you have seen the struggle, the depression, and things like that. And also from the family outlook. Oh my gosh. Hey, that mother, that daughter, that father, that husband, that wife.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 16:41

How do they feel about it?

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Oh my goodness. So the family is a whole, you have to well, you have a patient and then you have lots of other patients in the families. Right. So many times you're talking to all of the family members involved. You know, you might be talking to wife or spouse, but then they want you to talk to brother or sister because they're like, you know, can you explain this to this person? And again, educating them on what this person's life is gonna look like now, but also giving them hope.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

That here's here is how we're gonna help them be independent again. Um, these are the things we have to do. And it's it's hard because family's mourning, patients mourning, and and that's okay. You have to go through that mourning process. Right. Um, but but then we have to be the light, you know. We have to be the light and and just help support them and just show up every day um to help them. And so we have to start talking to the family about we think they're gonna need XYZ. Who's gonna help with this? Who else can you ask? Because we know that one person taking care of one patient is too much. You need a team taking care of someone. Um, and so then, you know, there again, that's where we come into collaborating with private duty home care and home health and looking at all of the ways that we can help um our patients and their families get through these injuries.

Why “Going Home Now” Can Set You Back

SPEAKER_04 18:09

And and I know we're going on a tangent. Yeah, but it's fun. But I these these are the important parts because again, we see this on a day-to-day basis. We're talking to families, and one thing that I hear all the time when I'm going to visit them in the hospital, I don't want to go to where you have. Like, and any I'm like, no, you you you should probably go to real no, I don't want to be in another hospital, but I don't want to do talk to me a little bit about why you think that is, and is that more just like miseducation or just not knowing, or what is that?

SPEAKER_00 18:43

I think everybody wants to go home. Yeah, you know. And I do. I want to go home as fast as possible. I want to get in my comfy pajamas, I want to get in my bed, I want to get up at my dogs, uh, you know, a lot of people are missing their animals, things like that. And there's that denial piece. I'm fine. I'm fine. But that's also where acute impatient rehab is so amazing as a level of care. Right. Because we offer three hours per day. So we and the average length of stay, it it depends. It really, really depends. But it's as few as two weeks, and it could be as much as a month or a month and a half, especially if we've got a complicated brain injury, chronal cord injury, things like that. It would be longer.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

But I educate the family and the patient that this is so short term and the rest of your life is so long term. I love that.

SPEAKER_04 19:37

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

I love that. Right. And and and what I'm hearing you saying for those patients, right, as you give them hope and the family members, you helping them get from A, yeah, we're at A right now. This A don't feel good, but we have A, B, C, D, and all the rest of the Africans to get through. So this no matter how it looks right now. Just follow these steps.

SPEAKER_04 20:01

And I'll say this too for for the listeners that are out there listening. If you are going anywhere and it like she said, minimum two weeks, maybe a month, a month and a half, depending on if you if you're going somewhere like, oh, we can just do do it three days or you're talking about some uh company and people invested in your well-being. Yes. They want to see you leave that rehab and still have that same quality of life, or if not better, but or close to it as possible when you leave. And so we have to remember that it's a stepping stone. Not everything is going to be better in a day, in a week, or even in the two weeks. However, what you do within those weeks or however long you're there is really what helps benef benefit that long-lasting time frame that you talked about. And so I love that you said that.

Rehab As A Medical Specialty

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Well, you said that I'm just gonna add a little bit there. Um, and we have to recognize the importance of of therapy, of rehabilit being a specialty, because you wouldn't go have your aunt be your oncologist, okay? And so it's the exact same thing with therapy. I have a doctorate in physical therapy. You know, we are at a very high level education-wise and experience-wise, to really help people get their maximum function and not just that, but their maximum independence, because we all want to be independent. So it's it's it should be seen as a specialty that that you know is no question. Like, you know, I've had people say, Oh, well, my family member can just do my exercise. No, they won't. No, right.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

No, they won't.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

Right, right. It's not and it's not the same.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

We don't know what to look for. We don't know if you're doing it properly. You know, it's you don't know how to coach them, you don't know how to push them. You don't, you know, okay, maybe that's too much. Maybe that, you know, you have some family members that push way too hard, and then you have some that don't push enough. And so it's just, you know, a therapist knows and understands how to progress in a safe way. So we, you know, we are so trained in differential diagnosis and like, okay, this actually I think we need to talk to your doctor about this. Yeah. Or no, no, no, this is fine. We can treat this as a musculoskeletal, you know, XYZ.

Technology: Exoskeletons And Treadmills

SPEAKER_03 22:15

And you know what? We probably you probably answer this, right? What are the innovative ways that Baylor Rehab treats his patients?

Seating, Pressure Mapping, And Devices

Physician Coverage And Daily Oversight

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Baylor Rehab, because of our relationship with Bum C and the model system and everything like that, we are on the forefront of technology and research. And so there are a myriad of cool things, cool uh gadgets and treatment approaches that we have. Um, that I could go a whole separate podcast on all those things. But I'll just highlight a few of the uh things that um I particularly like. Uh, and that is we have uh what's called bodyweight supported treadmill treadmill training. And I learned about this actually when I was in uh in PT school 18 years ago. But it's it's um it's just something that's so beneficial because what it is is it's essentially a hoist harness system that allows us to put patients over a treadmill, take off some of their body weight or most of it, and it allows uh the it frees up the therapist's hands so that they can then uh facilitate a normal gait pattern um with that patient because we know that after a neurological insult, um, that the pattern, if we lay down an abnormal pattern, that's what the patient's gonna be stuck with. Right. So repetition is key and intensity is key. And so getting them on that system, free again, freeing up the therapist hands to then facilitate a normal walking pattern in those patients helps then lay down a normal walking pattern for life. For and that's life changing. Again, another reason why our level of care is so important. Yeah. Life changing. So that person isn't gonna limp for the rest of their life, they're gonna walk normally. Um, and so, and again, that is where therapists are so important in that we understand the intensity that's required and how to progress for them to push them hard enough, but not too hard. Right, right. Um we also have uh something that's really cool: exoskeleton, which is essentially a wearable robot, um, head to um waist, upper torso area, and it again just helps facilitate a normal walking pattern and helps people get up and walk around, and which it always brings tears to everyone's eyes to be to be up and walking normally. Right. Um, and so it helps strengthen and again frees up therapists' hands so that they can you have to be specially trained and to, and I'm not, um, but there are therapists who are obviously that work at Baylor Rehab that do that. Two other things that I think specifically set us apart um is our seating clinic. So we we have specific relationships with DME companies. We have um therapists who are trained to help uh provide a wheelchair cushion, a seating system that is specific to the patient. Right. So we're looking at everything, we're doing pressure mapping so that we don't have wounds. Um and when you guys were there, I told you everything you see is on purpose. Right, right. You know, it might look kind of weird, but it is on purpose and for a reason. So you're not gonna see everybody have the same wheelchair. Um, and that's because of our relationships, and our case managers have amazing tenure, and they have relationships with nonprofit organizations that help these things get funded. Um, and that includes toileting equipment. So, how many people just have the Walmart toilet seat, you know? Um, well, we actually have multiple kinds of seats and things to that that are that they can try out so that we make sure we get them the right key what's the out of cookie. Yep, nope. Right, it's not cookie cutter at all. Um, the last thing that I'll highlight is our technology clinic, and that again is where we have trained therapists who bring the patient and family members in to look at cool things for the home. So we're looking at phone access, communication access, so uh devices to help people communicate, um, hydration, hydration is key. So you guys know that you know there's all kinds of little things to help people remember to drink water. And patients can try these things out so that they're not just going home and like trialing and spending a lot of money on things. They've actually been able to try these out. I like this, I like that. And again, we partner with nonprofit organizations, um, insurance, stuff like that, right, in order to get these things funded.

SPEAKER_04 26:49

Love that, love that. And so I know we talked about the different teams that you you all have and how they're kind of physician-led. Now, are the physician physicians at the rehab daily on the weekends? What does that look like?

Planning For Safe Discharge

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Baylor Dallas is unique in that we have eight plus physicians who are dedicated to us. And so they're with us every single day. We, of course, have physicians on call at night and on the weekends as well. But your doctor's gonna be there every day. Um, or if yeah, maybe they take a day off, we'll let them. Um, or they have maybe they're participating in research or something. I mean, um, there's a lot that our our physicians are doing. Then we have uh physicians who help cover who have also been with Baylor for a very, very long time. Right. And understand how to treat these patients. So it's not just somebody who's doesn't really know or really treat these types of patients, it's a a solid backup who is coming in and filling the spot.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

So how does your team help plan for a safe discharge?

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Oh my goodness. Safety is priority. And again, y'all know this more than anybody. Anybody in healthcare knows safety is key. At Baylor Rehab, it starts on the front end. So the liaisons, as soon as we get a referral, we're reaching out to the family members and to the patient to talk about their prognosis. Hey, my name's Amanda. I'm with Baylor and Patient Rehab. We're evaluating your patient to or your family member to come in. I wanted to talk to you about your home situation. Right. Who's there, who's not there, who works, who, you know, were they living by themselves? Right. Were they, you know, oh, mom was living by herself, but we know that's not safe anymore. Okay, have you done any research? Have you started talking to you know, a lot of times the answer is no because families wait until the final moment. Um, and my family included, even though here I am, you know, talking about, we gotta do this, but you the ultimate decision is never made until it's a crisis situation. Right. And so the liaisons, we start talking about safety on the front end because we have to know who their support system is, and we're communicating that to our physician teams before they're even accepted, before we even have insurance off, before they're even coming over to us. Then once they are uh a patient with us, then we have uh weekly interdisciplinary team meetings and family training. So we're bringing family in, we're talking about here they are, here's where we think they're gonna be, this is the equipment we think they're gonna need, uh, this is the help we think they're gonna need, this is the training we think you need. Um, and family training isn't one and done. Typically, families come up multiple times so that we can talk about all of the things because it is a very complex situation just to go to the restroom sometimes, you know. And though we get people as independent as possible, healing is a journey and it is not one and done.

SPEAKER_03 29:47

I don't know. What'd you say? Say that again.

Next Steps: Home Health, Outpatient, Day Neuro

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Healing is a journey. It is, it is, and so it takes it's not we have to educate the family on that too, you know. They because a lot of families think they'll go to rehab, they'll be fine. Right. No, this isn't this is a journey. It it truly is. I've used that phrase so many times. This is I guess technically step two as far as rehab goes, because step one is the rehab in the hospitals, which um when I was working at JPS, we used to joke that we never got any of the credit. The inpatient rehabs got all the credit. They were always in the news and stuff like that, and we're like, we started that. Um so really we're step two. Um but there's many steps after that.

SPEAKER_04 30:29

Right. So let's talk about those steps. So they're discharging from Bellar Institute Rehab. What does the next step look like for the patient and for their family?

Family Education And Ongoing Support

SPEAKER_00 30:40

The next steps uh depend, you know, and when you're talking to family members all the time, I say, I know you don't want to hear this, right? But it depends. Right, right. It depends on uh a variety of things. So uh sometimes our patients will go uh home with home health. So they go home with home health. Maybe they need additional uh home care on top of the home health because it's a you know, a lot of people think home health is a solution. When it's not, home health is not there all of the time. Right. Um, so we may need home care on top of that. Um maybe the most appropriate next step is an outpatient. So maybe they're gonna go home and they're gonna follow up at an outpatient clinic. Baylor has hundreds of outpatient clinics all over the area. You can't drive very far without seeing Baylor Institute for rehab in this area. So, and then we have some clinics who specialize kind of in different things, whether it's orthosports, whether it's neuro, whether it's uh Parkinson's, dementia, stuff like that. So we can help tailor their diagnosis to the right clinic as well. Um, we also, as an outpatient, have our day neuroservices, which is for our neurologically involved uh patients, and that is up to six hours of therapy per day. Um PTOT speech, as well as neuropsychology, but that is really for our individuals who are looking to get back to work. So a super high functioning level, that is our goal. So I always say it's like if something happened to us, we gotta get back to work, we gotta get back to taking care of kids, you know. Um, and and so it's it's focused at um a higher level uh of intensity. Right. We do have some people who, you know, some of our seniors do participate in day neuro, especially if they're very active. Say they're they recently retired, but they're still running a business, helping their kids, you know, grandkids, all of they're just as busy as you know, anyone else. Um so as long as they are willing to participate in that, because like I said, it's up to six hours of therapy per day. Um, it may be as little as three, it really just depends. Um, but it's still even three hours of therapy, three days a week is a lot uh for a lot of people. We also have neurotransitional clinics, which is apartment style living. Um, and that again is for our neurologically involved patients, apartment style living where again we're focused on intensity, so um multiple hours of therapy per day with a little bit more oversight.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

Wow. Well I love that. Well, what I'm hearing though is that y'all take care of your patients, but you also take care of the families and you educate them on the steps, first of all, what the doctor's orders are. Right? And the steps to get to those orders. I mean, to get make those orders successful for them in their life. And also the next steps once once they're discharged, they say, hey family, this is what y'all would need to do for them.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

You can benefit from Wow, yeah, it is so true. And and I've sat in our office and I've even heard where family members will call after they're discharged. I had doctor so-and-so basically, can't I talk to them about XYZ? And they'll talk to them. What you know? And so um it is because we know that we that the families uh we have to family's so important because it's up to us to take care of our loved ones. And so we understand that we have to bring the family in, we have to educate the family on what's going on because they become the the support system for the patient and their ultimate success. Right.

SPEAKER_03 34:16

Um Well I love that. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Wait, wait, go ahead, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

Listen. If y'all don't understand this, right, what's going on, what she has said, what Baylor is doing, just rewind it. Listen again. These are resources to your brain, tools. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 34:34

I love it too. And I I thank you for sharing all of that with us because again, most people just do not know. And their goal is just thinking, let me get home, but this is how you get home.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 34:45

So and it's how you're successful at home. Come on. I love that. I love that. I love that. And I just thank you for spending your time with us. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

And tell us all the great things about Baylor Institute Rehab. Hi, my name's Amanda Schmidt. I am with Baylor Scott and White Institute for Rehab. I am one of the senior clinical liaisons. We are located at 909 North Washington in Dallas. We are an acute inpatient rehab facility where we specialize in three hours of therapy per day. Specifically in Dallas, our uh specialties lie within traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, amputees, multi-trauma, and transplants.

SPEAKER_04 35:25

We absolutely love you guys. And we're not just saying it again, like she said, we've been there, we've seen it firsthand. So we know exactly what's going on. So I thank you so much for coming on. And I hope this episode was just so such full of gems for you all, because it was for me. And uh, I just know that this will benefit anybody who takes the listen. So please, like you said, remind it if you didn't understand something, leave a comment, whatever you gotta do. But please like, share, subscribe. And we will see you on the next journey out episode. Bye bye, y'all. Peace out. Peace out.