1 Star User Review
PT staff appears to not address understand patient needs. In the acute care side. Health Bridge's physical therapist appear to have problems meeting/understanding patient needs, knowing their patients, listening to family concerns and cultivating good facility and family relations. Other families during our stay told us various stories. One event where their child after waking from their coma defended themselves from PT staff due to the harsh therapy treatment. The child while under the coma --non-medical term-- was actually aware and felt all of the PT prior to waking from coma. The family described PT sessions where staff violently yanking their child's limb, parents asked to be more gentle but was parents requests ignored. After the incident, child defending them self against the PT staff after waking from coma, Healthbridge threatened to kick the family out and gave an ultimatum that the child was to be sedated during the rest of the stay --meaning until the private insurance ran out--. Fortunately, another doctor stepped in and listened to the family concern and found that the PT staff and administration did not understand/listen to the parents and acknowledge the child was defending themselves from lack of understanding of the patients needs. The patients needs was found to be more time to gently loosen/warm up their muscles during the PT session. Then after loosening/warming up the muscle then they could do the more rigorous PT. Unfortunately the facility decided to not really address the patients needs and pretty much stopped the sessions and the relationship of the facility and family was damaged beyond repair. The family left prior to the private insurance ran out due to the uncomfortable feelings brought about during their ordeal. The other families on the acute side of where we stayed had other various poor experiences with the PT and administration as well. It was more comman than not that most families left the facility prior to private insurrance running out for care. They only do PT till insurance runs out. We have since found other facilities and one of the best ones is Totally Kids (TK). Side by side comparrison and I think bell weather to a good childrens nursing home. Healthbridge was more about removing PT care rather than adding like TK. Healthbridge only did PT while insurrance pays for it. TK adds PT and activities during the stay, we see them adding standing assist chair to kids so children stand upright, a dynavox computer to communicate, more PT/OT etc to children’s routine. I looked at the staff/team on Healthbridge web site, it appears that the doctor who listened to the family in this example is no longer there. That’s a shame, they need more staff to listen understand the patients but they appear to want more private insurance patients versus long term patient and never got to know understand the patients on the acute side during our long stay. TK staff actual adopted some of the children of the ward at TK and spend a lot money on the kids from their own pocket --for xmas, halloween, etc--. I never heard seen of such stories from Healthbridge. TK staff seem to be more real not all fancy suits, etc in the administration office.