Cornett said that the evaluation was guided by a 3-inch thick binder that listed the standards and requirements in a multitude of areas.
“Some areas are human resources: How do you deal with the recruitment and retention of your personnel?” she explained. “Another category is performance improvement: How do you identify what needs to be worked on to provide high-quality patient services and what are you doing to improve yourself?
“Patient safety is a whole other category that we have to meet,” Cornett said. “We have to make sure we look at any barriers to accessibility for our patients and the visitors from environment to communication. They look at the credentials of the staff, how you promote growth and learning opportunities for your staff. They look at everything — even fiscal responsibility.
“We have, here at the hospital, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, and we also have inpatients from the hospital,” Cornett said. “We take inpatients on our inpatient rehabilitation unit, which is an 11-bed unit. There we see orthopedic patients, patients affected with a stroke — patients that need a little bit more therapy before they go home. They can’t just be discharged right after their acute care. They need more therapy to increase their function. They move from the hospital to the rehab unit.
“We also have here at the hospital a neuropsychologist who provides services.”
The department operates a Center for Sports Medicine in Tipp City where physical therapy and athletic training services are offered. Athletic injuries are also treated at the facility.
Two other outpatient care centers are in Troy and in Piqua. Audiology is another service provided at the Stanfield Building in Troy.
“We are kind of spread out,” Cornett said.
The CARF surveyors are all professionals who have worked in or are working in the rehabilitation field themselves. CARF, founded in 1966, has established consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services.
“(The accreditation) is really pretty much the highest distinction that a rehabilitation service can achieve,” she continued. “It is good to go through this process. I think it really helps to evaluate ourselves and ensure we are providing the best service that we can.
“We are very proud of ourselves.”
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