NEWS

HELP FOR KNEES 

It’s a Catch-22. When a patient has knee surgery, it hurts to stand. Yet to prevent tissue to become stiff or scarred, the knee joint must be moved.

The Physical Therapy Department at Bigfork Valley has recently obtained a continuous passive motion (CPM) machine for knees. The patient lies with his leg supported by the machine, which moves the leg to flex the knee without use of weight bearing muscles.

The benefit for the patient is that recovery time is reduced, healing without scar tissue is promoted and range of motion is increased.

“The machine is portable, and can be easily set up at the patient bedside,” explained Chuck Gibbel, physical therapist. “We are very pleased to be able to offer this equipment to our patients.”

Collaborative given national award 

Bigfork Valley Hospital was one of 32 critical access hospitals which participated in a collaborative project between 2001 and 2004. On May 20, that project was recognized by the National Rural Health Association for its quality improvement work in treating local patients.

Organized by an independent non-profit health care quality improvement organization, Stratis Health, the project sought to improve the ways in which hospitals treated patients for heart failure, immunized adults for influenza and pneumonia and provided smoking cessation counseling. It also provided a forum for staff at the hospitals to network and learn from each other’s successes and challenges in meeting project goals.

The award recognized the Critical Access Hospital Collaborative for making “significant contributions to the quality or safety of rural Americans,” according to award criteria.

“The small changes in care processes made during the project have meant big improvements in quality of care for Bigfork Valley’s patients, and many other rural Minnesotans,” said Patsy Riley, CEO of Stratis Health.