Relationships That Drive Successful Rehabilitation
Award winning occupational therapist, Danielle Bergeron, pictured with client Mary Benson, at Wesley Homes Health Center.
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. This is never truer than in a patient’s rehabilitation. A therapist who can build bonds of friendship with their patients is truly an asset to the patient and to their profession.
Danielle Bergeron is such a therapist at Wesley Homes Health Center. Bergeron was recently awarded the Consonus Healthcare Services Legend Award for going above and beyond the call of duty to do extraordinary things for her clients every day.
Bergeron is an occupational therapist known for her interpersonal skills. “On the average I might spend six weeks with a client,” said Bergeron, “long enough to establish a friendship that doesn’t end when the client no longer needs my services.”
As resident and former patient Mary Benson put it, “I sort of adopted her and Jackie,” referring to Bergeron and Physical Therapist Jackie Milewski. When residents express such depth of feeling towards their care givers it is indicative of better rehabilitation outcomes.
Joe McVein, Consonus Healthcare Services Rehabilitation Director for Wesley Homes Health Center said, “It’s not unusual for Danielle to visit her clients in the hospital and it’s not uncommon to hear of her maintaining a professional contact with her clients and their families.” Bergeron believes it is important to follow up with a patient and their family to see how the patient is progressing.
Several of Bergeron’s clients feel a close enough relationship to her to feel involved in the planning of Bergeron’s upcoming wedding on September 19th of this year. For example, a conversation I witnessed began with Benson inquiring about the status of Bergeron’s wedding invitations.
Bergeron also mentioned a senior gentleman, a patient recovering from heart surgery. “His therapy goal is to attend my wedding,” said Bergeron, “he told me he’d be there even if it’s on a stretcher.”
As a Legend’s award winner, Bergeron is listed in the Consonus Healthcare Service’s Legend’s Hall of Fame.
