Getting Back to Life

At Akron’s Canal Pointe Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, patients benefit from focused, in-patient therapies and dramatically reduced recovery times. Here’s how this staff is changing lives—every day.

By: Ken McEntee
Date: 05/06/2009
A key to a patient recovering from an injury or an illness, David Keast says, is being able to do it on his or her own schedule.

David, administrator of Canal Pointe Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Akron, says Canal Pointe’s high level of personalized care has allowed the facility to achieve unique success in rehabilitating its residents.

“We return 20 or more rehabilitation patients back to their own homes every month,” David says. “The average stay for physical and occupational therapy is about 30 days. We also have a very high success rate in weaning respiratory therapy patients off of their ventilators.”

Canal Pointe, which has been going through some rehabilitation of its own since new owners took over in November 2007, offers rehabilitation and post-acute units that specialize in short-term care. Along with physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, Canal Pointe, with 24 respiratory therapy beds, is one of the few facilities in the area that can accept patients who are on ventilators.

Licensed respiratory therapists who have received specialized training and are skilled in the use of respiratory equipment staff the respiratory care department. The multidisciplinary team includes nurses, therapists and other clinicians who work with each resident’s physician to provide the high quality care.

“We offer a very aggressive program for weaning patients off their ventilators and restore optimal health,” says Nancy Pilgrim, lead respiratory therapist. “I love to see patients who came in on ventilators leave without tracheotomy tubes. We’ve even had some patients leave without having to be on oxygen. We’re that good.”
Bev Murphy, director of rehabilitative services, says the advantage Canal Pointe offers is the amount of therapy patients receive while they’re at the facility. Unlike outpatient services, rehab can be conveniently scheduled throughout the day.

“Because they are residents, we’re able to schedule therapy at any time to make it easy for them,” Bev says.
“Our goal is to be able to discharge patients as quickly as possible back to their homes at their highest functioning level.”

David says that unlike rehabilitation programs at most hospitals, where the routine is more regimented, Canal Pointe patients are able to rehabilitate at their own pace.

“Our therapy program is available six days a week,” David says.

Canal Pointe has an on-site nurse practitioner who works closely with the resident’s physicians to meet immediate medical needs on a daily basis.

“That makes a big difference because we are able to make quick decisions and avoid unnecessary hospital readmissions.,” David says.

When patients are not in therapy, Canal Pointe offers a large assortment of activities for residents.

“We hired an executive chef who is working on updating our menus and is always upgrading the quality of our food,” he says. “We’re going to be switching to more of a restaurant-type system that gives residents more choices off of a menu.”

For patients who are ready to go home, the Canal Pointe staff is happy to provide home evaluations to be sure that conditions are safe and conducive to continued recovery.

“We work closely with the patient’s family to be sure that all of their needs are met,” David says.

Although most rehabilitation residents tend to be seniors, Canal Pointe assists a wide range of ages. The youngest resident was 25 years old.

“Under the new ownership, we’re making a lot of improvements to the building, and our goal is to make Canal Pointe Akron’s premier provider of respiratory care services and post-hospital rehabilitation,”
David says. “Nikki Gold, director of nursing services, joined the Canal Pointe team in 2009 and is driving our clinical services to a higher level.”

“We have a staff of ten therapists who are solely dedicated to this building providing consistency of care. Residents and therapists build a relationship which is important to the success of their recovery.
Canal Pointe is a clinical training site for The University of Akron speech therapy students who come to observe and train.

Since acquiring Canal Pointe, the ownership has spent close to a million dollars renovating the 40-year-old building, David says. Most noticeable to residents and visitors is the wide-open welcoming lobby.

“We had to take out some walls and offices,” he says. “It isn’t confining like it used to be and it gives residents a nice place to relax and socialize.”

When your doctor orders physical, occupational, speech or respiratory therapy, you have a choice of where to go, David notes.

In addition to rehabilitative care, Canal Pointe offers skilled and intermediate nursing care, along with respite care and other services.

Canal Pointe offers tours at any time between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. To schedule a visit, call 330-762-0901. Canal Pointe is located at 145 Olive Street, in Akron, central to all of Akron’s hospitals.

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