Rehabilitation Medicine - Jefferson Health Case Statement

Redefining Im possible

When a debilitating injury, condition, or disorder occurs, its effects aren't limited to a single body part or function. It affects every facet of a person's well-being, diminishing your quality of life and changing what it means to feel "normal." In these moments when the thought of recovery seems daunting, even impossible, you don't want just any rehabilitation team—you want the best.

That is why, in these moments, our patients choose Jefferson.

For more than 50 years, Jefferson physicians and therapists have been leaders in rehabilitation medicine, helping countless individuals regain their independence, achieve a renewed sense of normalcy, and experience the best possible quality of life. We are home to the Delaware Valley's only Model Spinal Cord Injury Center—one of only 14 in the entire nation. And we are consistently ranked among the top programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

Few healthcare disciplines are as ubiquitous as rehabilitation medicine. No matter the injury or condition, our multidisciplinary team delivers comprehensive, compassionate, and personalized rehabilitation care across the spectrum of medical specialties—ensuring that every individual receives the right intervention at the right time for the right duration.

The road back isn't always easy. But, no matter the obstacle, we will be there to guide you through it. That is our mission, our passion, and our promise. And it's all made possible by the support of generous benefactors like you.

On behalf of the entire rehabilitation medicine team, thank you.

Sincerely,

Steve R. Williams, MD Chair, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine Dean, Jefferson College of Rehabilitation Science Enterprise Senior Vice President for Post-Acute & Rehabilitation Services

Our Vision

As we look to the future, our vision is clear: Jefferson will be the undisputed national leader in rehabilitation medicine. We have the vision, we have the talent. With your philanthropic support, we can make it a reality.

You are the difference. By investing in clinical care, research, and education, you catalyze innovations from the bench to the bedside, attract the best and brightest physicians to Jefferson, and empower us to better train the future leaders of the discipline. In doing so, you give hope to countless patients who will benefit from your generosity.

This is the future of rehabilitation medicine, and it’s powered by you.

Programs & Services

Cardiac Rehabilitation Program

Je erson o ers the only outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitat ion Program in Philadelphia. Our program is designed to help patients who have su ered from a heart condition transition back to a normal, active life. rough exercise, nutrition, and education, we help our patients take a more active and responsible role in their rehabilitat ion.

Comprehensive Traumatic Injury & Orthopaedic Trauma Ser vices

We provide, highly specialized trauma and fracture care for potentially limb-threatening or life-altering injuries that commonly result from car accidents, falls, sporting activities and industrial accidents. As an accredited Level I Regional Resource Trauma Center, Je erson is entrusted with treating a wide varie of trauma-related conditions for the Philadelphia region, including spinal cord injury, and acquired brain injury. In addition, our team determines the best course of neurological rehabilitation therapy, providing our patients with the holistic care they need to achieve the best possible quali of life.

Outpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation

e Pulmonary Rehabilitat ion Program at Je erson Methodist Hospital in South Philadelphia is an individually tailored, medically supervised outpatient program designed to improve the quali of life of patients with underlying chronic lung disease. e program o ers exercise training, education and emotional support to patients ages 18 and up who are able to walk without help, but whose abilities to perform daily activities are impacted by symptomatic chronic lung diseases.

Comprehensive Acute Rehabilitation

If a patient requires intensive inpatient rehabilitation, Je erson has a Comprehensive Acute Rehabilitation Unit that works with patients and their physicians to create the optimal course of rehab for the patient. e Acute Rehabilitat ion Unit at Je erson is one of the best in the country, and is nationally accredited by the Commission on the Accreditat ion of Rehabilitat ion Facilities (CARF) for our Comprehensive Integrated Inpatient Rehabilitation and Stroke Special Program.

Outpatient Rehabilitation & Physical Therapy

Je erson Rehabilitat ion is dedicated to improving the quali of life by providing a comprehensive, team-based approach to physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology for our patients. Our patients receive personalized treatments in a comfortable se ing, where they are able to build relationships with the dedicated sta , and develop a plan for their treatment while in our care.

Together Better

Exceptional Care. Close to Home.

Jefferson offers 22 rehab specialty services throughout South Jersey, Philadelphia, Montgomery County, and Bucks County. Our specialists are dedicated to improving quality of life by providing a comprehensive, team-based approach to physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech language pathology for adults and children.

JEFFERSON + MAGEE

One of the nation's best rehabilitation medicine programs is getting even better.

In January 2018. Jefferson and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital officially became one, bringing together two of the nation's top-ranked rehabilitation providers. This merger not only brings leading-edge, best-in-class rehabilitation care to more locations throughout the Jefferson Health enterprise—it markedly enhances potential research opportunities among our world-class faculty.

Among its many benefits, this historic partnership has unlocked a bold new era in rehabilitation medicine at Jefferson. For patients, we will provide a more integrated, comprehensive, and efficient experience than ever before. For the physicians of tomorrow, we will host the largest number of residents and fellows in the Greater Philadelphia region, providing a multi-hospital clinical rotation unlike any other.

Better Patient Care. Better Research. Better Training.

We are truly better together.

"Quality care is the result of many things done right."

Steve R. Williams, MD

The road to recovery from a debilitating injury or condition is life-changing for patients and their loved ones. We understand how overwhelming it can be, which is why we strive to be more than just a medical team. We are an ally, working diligently to tailor an optimal rehabilitation experience that helps patients meets their goals and achieve their best quality of life. The following priorities will help unlock the full potential of our clinical services.

Grow the Team to Deliver a Premier Patient Experience

Every step toward recovery comes with unique needs and challenges that can be overwhelming for patients and their loved ones. In addition to state-of-the-art, individualized physical rehabilitation care, our multidisciplinary team provides the gamut of mental, emotional, and psychosocial support to every individual in our care.

We are home to some of the best physicians, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, rehab nurses, therapeutic recreation specialists, social workers, and psychologists in the field today.

As we look to the future, it is our goal to expand our dedicated team with key recruits who can provide the holistic care our patients need and deserve, such as patient navigators. Philanthropic support is invaluable in this endeavor, strengthening our ability to deliver a comprehensive and compassionate experience available no where else.

Provide World-Class Care in a World-Class Setting

In rehabilitation medicine, timing is everything. In 1998, the average hospital stay for a patient with quadriplegia was nine months. Today, it's only nine weeks. This giant leap in recovery time is a direct result of clinical and technological innovations.

As such, it is a top philanthropic priority for the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine to renovate our clinical spaces and invest in cutting-edge equipment to provide our patients with the best possible care experience.

By supporting these clinical advances, your generosity will empower our team to transition patients from the hospital back to their homes more efficiently than ever before. It will improve patient outcomes and well-being. It will create a ripple effect of hope across the entire Jefferson Health enterprise and the communities we serve.

Many of our patients have survived a harrowing experience and the rehabilitation process is the light at the end of the tunnel. As a patient regains function, it is vital to create an environment that improves his or her psyche, promotes positivity and also celebrates the hard work that was put in and the progress made.”

Kristofer Feeko, DO Medical Director, Jefferson Acute Rehabilitation Unit

Made Possible

By You

You can help facilitate the best patient-centered clinical care from a multidisciplinary medical team. By supporting the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Jefferson, you have the power to catalyze clinical innovations that will improve the lives of countless individuals.

From the bench to the bedside.

The importance of medical research cannot be overstated—today’s discoveries fuel tomorrow’s clinical innovations. It provides the empirical evidence necessary to advance scientific knowledge and create bold new solutions to healthcare's biggest challenges. As such, it is a core philanthropic priority for the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. By supporting our team's research endeavors, you play a key role in shaping the future of the discipline— at Jefferson and far beyond.

Establish a Robust Research Infrastructure

The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is home to a burgeoning comprehensive research network organized around a two-pronged mission: to prevent further decline in a person's functioning and to increase the functional independence, participation, and quality of life for individuals with disabling conditions.

We have recently launched a specialized Outcomes Research Clinic that provides oversight for all rehabilitation research performed across the enterprise. This invaluable resource has proven critical to maintaining standards for all research projects, promoting interdisciplinary collaborations, and increasing our team's output.

With your support, we can take this research program to an entirely new tier and establish a nationally recognized Center of Excellence in Outcomes Research. Doing so will allow us to conduct research more rapidly, attract more research grants to our institutions, and better analyze the wealth of patient data collected across Jefferson's expansive network.

Made Possible

By You

Accelerate Translational Research Efforts

Translational research is the process by which discoveries in the lab are rapidly translated into new therapies in the clinical setting. This research model accelerates innovation, ensuring our patients receive the latest, most advanced therapies and interventions.

Philanthropy is invaluable. Your generosity provides the flexible funding necessary to seed new research projects, create state-of-the-art facilities, recruit distinguished researchers and staff, and expand the breadth and scope of our research efforts.

Your generosity unlocks new frontiers in rehabilitation care—propelling the next discovery and the next treatment from the lab to the clinic.

There is no limit to what your generosity can do. A gift in support of our research efforts will usher in a new era in rehabilitation medicine at Jefferson, improving more lives today and creating the therapies of tomorrow.

Current Research Focus

Augmented Reality for Cardiac Rehabilitation

Innovations in augmented reality are not limited to entertainment or video games. They have the potential for real-world benefits—particularly in healthcare. We are currently exploring how this technology can be used to improve cardiac outcomes. Too often, patient engagement suffers when rehabilitation moves from a clinical to an in-home setting. We aim to explore how an inhome exercise system outfitted with specially designed augmented reality software that tracks patient recovery can help keep individuals more engaged in their rehabilitation.

Cannabis Research

The National Academies of Science report that there is conclusive evidence of the effectiveness of cannabis for controlling chronic pain, nausea, and spasticity. Additionally, its withdrawal symptoms are very mild when compared with alcohol, opioids or benzodiazepines. It is our goal to explore the effects of cannabis on patients suffering chronic pain as a result of spinal cord injury.

Measuring Muscle Function

There is an overwhelming need for objective measurement of residual muscle function following spinal cord injury that spans a wider range of muscles, and is quick, reliable, and clinically relevant. To measure objectively, our scientists plan to study the use surface sensors of electrical activity in the muscle, also known as surface electromyography or sEMG. Our goal is to identify a final set muscles in the body that can be reliably used to record and rate voluntary and involuntary muscle activity in able-bodied individuals.

Outcome Measurements

Researchers at Jefferson (John Ditunno, MD and Ralph Marino, MD) had important input into the development and revision of the International Standards for Neurologic Classification of Spinal Cord Injury, accepted worldwide as the standard for neurologic examination for spinal cord injury.

Our team has pioneered a number of outcome measurements following Spinal Cord Injury:

• The Trunk scale, developed by Daniel Graves, PhD, a measurement scale for the recovery of motor function following spinal cord injury, which has gone on to become the international standard.

• Dr. Ditunno developed the Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury (WISCI), used to evaluate walking capacity in SCI.

• Dr. Marino developed an upper extremity functional questionnaire and test for persons with cervical SCI, the Capabilities of Upper Extremity Questionnaire and Test

• MJ Mulcahey, PhD has evaluated many of these measures and others in children, establishing the minimum age for which reliable data can be obtained using these “adult” measures.

Philanthropic support will be instrumental in refining these measures and developing newer measures to better determine the functional benefit of interventions, both established and experimental.

Education is a pillar of modern medicine—to reimagine the rehabilitation care of tomorrow, we must train the next generation of physicians and researchers today.

The following philanthropic priorities are critical to the longterm success of our program, ensuring that we will always remain an academic leader in rehabilitation medicine.

Create an Endowed Fellowship

The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine has long been a national destination for post-graduate training. Our Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Program has produced some of the most prominent leaders in the field today. And our new Spasticity Fellowship has proven to be a highly sought and competitive training opportunity.

Philanthropy is essential. Every year, many applicants vie for just seven available residency training slots. By establishing an endowed fellowship, you can give more aspiring specialists and researchers an unparalleled opportunity to jumpstart their distinguished careers at our institution.

In doing so, you play a key role in shaping future generations of healthcare leaders who will continue our proud tradition of setting the standards for rehabilitation care, research, and education.

Increase International Training Opportunities

Jefferson’s mission to improve lives extends far beyond the Philadelphia area and the United States—we are building relationships and setting new standards of excellence in education, research, and clinical care in countries throughout the world.

It is our vision to leverage Jefferson's global partnerships to expand international training opportunities for residents within the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, particularly in Israel.

Philanthropic support of our efforts will help to create an unparalleled training opportunity for our aspiring physicians. It will unlock exciting new collaborations that would accelerate the department's translational research efforts. And it will cement our reputation as a forward-thinking academic leader.

Establish an Endowed Professorship

Endowed professorships are one of the most prestigious honors in academic medicine. They are an invaluable resource that markedly strengthens our ability to recruit and retain the best physicians and scientists in the world.

Held by the most distinguished and revered scholars, clinicians, and scientists on our campus, professorships signify Jefferson’s belief in a faculty member’s past contributions and future promise.

They recognize the holder who has earned the distinction, the namesake who is being honored, and the donor who made the professorship possible— creating a permanent tribute that will touch the lives of faculty and patients for generations to come.

How an Endowment Works

Endowments build lasting financial strength and provide permanent support for patient care, training, research, and an abundance of other academic programs and activities. Earnings from your gift grow over time to fund your philanthropic priorities—now and in perpetuity.

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Benefactor makes a gift to Jefferson and decides to endow it for a specific purpose

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The gift is invested by “buying shares” in Jefferson’s pooled investment fund

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The amount of earned income available is based on the current spending policy

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Earnings are distributed monthly and directed to the purpose of the gift

Principal continues to grow in perpetuity, resulting in increased earnings each year

Philanthropy Heals

You Make the Difference.

We are steadfast in our mission to make a better world for our patients and their loved ones. But without visionary benefactors to power innovative and forward-thinking programs, they are likely to remain merely big ideas—tantalizingly out of reach for physicians and patients alike.

You are the difference. With a gift to support the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, you put the next breakthrough, the next treatment within reach. You create a legacy that will touch the lives of countless individuals. You give people hope.

With the brightest minds, boldest ideas, and a reputation for nextgeneration and compassionate care, we are uniquely poised to make the most of your philanthropic investment, quickly transforming your generosity into tangible medical successes.

An investment in Jefferson is an investment in our patients. Thank you for helping them achieve the best possible quality of life.