Newsroom & Media
Therapy Center offers regular newsletters and media alerts to keep our staff and our partners up-to-date on recent news and regulatory changes that affect the way you do business. Sign up for e-mail updates, or browse below for information on a variety of topics.
April 19, 2012
OT Spotlight: Sherie Soileau
In celebration of Occupational Therapy Month in April, we are highlighting some of our longest tenured therapists…
Sherie Soileau is originally from Marksville, Louisiana and is a graduate of ULM -University of Louisiana at Monroe. She has worked as an occupational therapist for the Therapy Center since 2006.
Currently, Sherie is the supervising therapist at Valley View and Colonial nursing home and is responsible for COTA supervision/documentation , evaluations and assisting with patient treatment.
Why did you choose the field of occupational therapy? I always knew I wanted a profession in the medical field and a profession that was friendly for a woman especially one who wanted to raise a family. I was introduced to the field of OT by my cousin and observed several treatments in the out-patient field an immediately draw to idea of being able to help rehabilitate people with injury/disabilities. It seemed fun, interesting and rewarding.
What is the most rewarding part of your job? The most rewarding part of my job is initially evaluating a resident with a disability and having the chance to work with them until discharge and being a witness to their progress to PLOF or return to their homes. Also just doing simple little tasks such as applying makeup to painting their fingernails to help put a smile on their face!
Favorite part of working at Therapy Center? My favorite part of working at the Therapy Center is getting to work with awesome co-workers every day. Having great team work and collaboration together with treatment of patients helps make it rewarding to come to work. Also the trust, flexibility and understanding of management towards employees when it comes to completing their jobs.
Hobbies/other areas of interest: Enjoy gardening, scrap booking, camping/boating/skiing, enjoy being outdoors spending time with family and friends.
We want to thank Sherie for her team work and dedication to the Therapy Center!! We are lucky to have her as part of our team…
April 16, 2012
Employee of the Quarter: Kathryn Perejo Cormier
Kathryn Parejo Cormier is a Speech Therapist who joined the Therapy Center team in June of last year and has been making quite an impression ever since! Over the past few months, Kathryn has been working as an internal floater between several Therapy Center facilities and the staff in every facility she visits wants to keep her!
Kathryn’s peers describe her as friendly, knowledgeable, and the ultimate team player. Her mentor praises her excellent documentation and willingness to always help wherever she is needed.
Congratulations to Kathryn on being voted by her peers as Therapy Center’s Employee of the quarter!
January 25, 2012
Employees of the Quarter Announced
We want to congratulate two outstanding employees for being chosen as “Employees of the Quarter”!!
Candice “Candi” Cooley has been essential in the successful operations at Jeff Davis Living Center. She always goes above and beyond to help with anything she can. Candi is a Therapy Center advocate at all times, never complains and is a model employee!! CONGRATS CANDI!!!
Susan Webb is an employee in our Marksville Clinic. Susan has been going above and beyond in helping get set up their new system “CLINICIENT” ready!! Susan has been contributing alot of her weekends, holidays, and taking work home to make sure that this program was ready to begin on January 3rd. She has been dedicating herself to the clinic’s success in being prepared for this big change in computer systems!! WAY TO GO SUSAN!!!
Here is a full list of all employee nominees:
Elisha Duhon
Susan Webb
Kimberly Lacombe
Amber Craft
Jodi Landry
Lisa Parker
Hollie Bonin
Kelli Gremillion
Jodi Regan
Melinda Chenevert
Greta Gremillion
Callie Soileau
Roschelle Scallan
Candice Cooley
Corrie Walton
October 14, 2011
Therapy Center Employee Drawing: Linda Roy Wins!
A huge congratulations goes out to Ms. Linda Roy, speech therapist at Hessmer Nursing Home! We want to recognize Linda for being part of a great team and for going above and beyond for her patients and for Therapy Center!
Watch the drawing here!!
October 13, 2011
Therapy Center Employee Drawing: John Romero Wins!
Kudos to John Romero, therapy tech at Tri Community, who won our employee drawing today! We also want to recognize John for being part of a great team and for going above and beyond for his co-workers and patients!
Watch the drawing here!
September 14, 2011
Therapy Center Conducts Innovative Cooking Therapy
Who says therapy can’t be fun? The innovative Therapy Center therapists at Amelia Manor conducted a fun cooking session for its patients!
Barbara Miller, an Amelia Manor short-stay rehab resident who plans to return home alone, led the group in cooking cheese and tomoato grilled sandwiches. The recipe was simple, but the long-reaching effects of the session were definitely multi-faceted. In one session, patients received Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Speech Therapy benefits – not to mention the social benefits of working in an encouraging and inspiring group.
Therapy Center hopes to implement the cooking therapy program in its other partner facilities. Watch for more information coming soon!
Pictured: (left) Barbara Miller; (right) Judy Duplechien, COTA
September 7, 2011
Therapy Center Expands Compliance Department
In a proactive approach to impending audits, Therapy Center has expanded its compliance department to include on-site chart auditing in addition to computerized auditing. “We recognize the importance that all necessary documentation is timely, organized, and readily available on medical charts and we want to ensure accessibility and completeness in the event of an audit,” says Rachel Manuel, Mentor/Speech Therapist for Therapy Center and the newest addition to the compliance staff.
Rachel has over 8 years’ experience in nursing home care and has served as a Manager and Mentor for Therapy Center since 2008 in the Basile and Jennings areas. Currently, she provides staffing services for speech therapy company-wide and will be transitioning to a new role in compliance alongside Lance Hill, Therapy Center’s Director of Regulatory and Clinical Compliance.
It is Therapy Center’s mission to make sure that the facilities it services not only receive top-notch treatment, but that all monies collected are retained should an audit occur. In addition to Rachel, Therapy Center welcomes Renee Bult and Lisa Parker to its compliance team as part of the on-site audit staff.
Therapy Center is excited about the value these new efforts will be adding to our current long term care partners. To find out how our on-site compliance officers can help your facility prepare for audits, click here to contact Therapy Center today!
September 6, 2011
Therapy Center hosts internal therapist training
On August 19th, Therapy Center hosted an internal staff training in Lafayette where members of our management team presented on the most important and relevant topics in the therapy world today. Below are just a few of the topics that were covered during our training!
Identification and accurate diagnosis of dementia and dementia staging and functional assessment for PT, OT, and ST focusing on an interdisciplinary team approach:
Rachel Manuel, SLP and Therapy Center mentor presented on the utilization of an interdisciplinary approach to dementia care in the SNF. The focus of the presentation included accurate assessment and staging of dementia patients by all disciplines so that appropriate interventions can be selected and implemented as dementia progresses. Additionally, Rachel discussed a variety of treatment approaches to increase patient cooperation and progress to maximize functional independence and reduce burden of care on family and staff.
Upcoming changes for the SNF 2012 Final Rule: Lance Hill, Director of Clinical & Regulatory Compliance outlined the upcoming changes and the impact they will have not only on therapy but globally with our facilities as well. Lance also discussed how we can work with our partner facilities to make the transition as smooth as possible October 1st. Because Therapy Center is a huge proponent for pro-active measures in the area of compliance, he re-iterated the importance of self-regulating our documentation to avoid and prevent future audits and denials and also discussed our audit program and the criteria on which quarterly audits are scored and measured.
Contracture Management/Positioning, Bowel and Bladder, and Low vision programs: Insuring maximal patient independence in SNF setting is always our goal! Our occupational therapists/mentors, Danielle Keyser and Amber LaPrairie, and our Women’s Health physical therapist Alayna Brewer discussed the establishment of internal programs and the importance of caregiver education. Both of these measures are able to facilitate increased independence and reduce risk of contracture, incontinence and falls among individuals in skilled nursing facilities.
Laurie Riquelmy, Education For Living Presentation: The primary objective of this presentation was to provide distinctions and practices that allow participants to observe and manage their moods. Our physical and emotional well-being is intimately tied to our moods. Participants learned the importance of moods and their influence on our personal effectiveness and interaction with other people. By learning distinctions regarding moods we increase our ability to identify moods in others, and ourselves, see what actions are possible within a certain mood, and shift or design a more effective mood. For example, by observing and shifting out of a mood such as resentment or resignation, we are able to reduce stress and communicate more effectively with others.
Therapy Center partners with nursing homes to provide high quality, cost-effective rehabilitation services. For more Therapy Center news and developments, find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!
August 15, 2011
Therapy Center participates in nursing home appreciation luncheon
On July 28th, Therapy Center sponsored the Compass Health nursing home appreciation luncheon. We were honored to be a part of such a great event and to be able to work with Compass Health in their efforts to recognize nursing home administrators and staff from the Acadia, Evangeline, Jeff Davis and Vermilion Parishes.
Compass Health psychiatric inpatient hospitals and outpatient facilities affiliated with the luncheon included Behavioral Medicine Unit and Bridgeway of Church Point; Compass Behavioral Center of Crowley, Kaplan and Mamou; Jennings Senior Care Hospital and Stepping Stones of Jennings and Vermilion Behavioral Health Center of Kaplan.
Therapy Center partners with nursing homes to provide high quality, cost-effective rehabilitation services. For more Therapy Center news and developments, find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!
See the newspaper article here.
August 10, 2011
Therapy Center Announces Nook Winner
Therapy Center recently held a drawing to choose the name of the Nook winner from all of the qualified entries! Anyone who signed up for TeamText before August 7th was entered into the drawing. Watch now to see if you were the lucky one!
August 3, 2011
Therapy Center Named as One of Acadiana’s “11 Great Places to Work”
Therapy Center has been named by Acadiana Profiles Magazine as One of Eleven Great Places to Work in the August/September issue. Below is a highlight from the article.
The Therapy Center, which provides therapy for clinics, hospitals, schools, home health and a number of skilled nursing facilities, is a young company founded by five Louisiana therapists in 2002. The company now employs 145 people and is growing fast.
Based in Jennings, the Therapy Center services most of South Louisiana, including the Therapy Center clinic in Jennings and Lemoine Therapy Services in Marksville. It provides therapy to nursing homes and hospitals in Lafayette, Opelousas, Mamou and Kinder and home health care across the region. Additionally, it provides an athletic training program to several Acadiana high schools.
Carly Person, marketing coordinator, has worked for the Therapy Center for five years. During that time, she’s had two children and, for a while, thought she might not be able to juggle the work-life balance. Rather than quitting, her manager suggested that she work from home two days a week to see if that would help.
For Person, it does.
“It has been a blessing for me,” she says. “When I started, I didn’t have children. When I did, I wanted to stay home. This is the best of both worlds.”
Person says the Therapy Center’s leadership is proactive: “Instead of following what others are doing, we try to do innovative things. We’re a very cohesive group and try to keep everyone involved in what’s going on. Education is a big part of our company. That’s what helps us stay on the forefront of the industry.”
The Therapy Center’s leaders attempt to address education for the “whole person,” and in an effort to do so, they offer all employees the opportunity to attend the first stage of Education for Living, or EFL, self-improvement and communication workshops.
“The size of our company takes a lot of communication to be able to run it effectively,” says Shannon Lemoine, physical therapist, owner and founder of the company. “To me, there’s no better way to improve communication than EFL. To get everyone on the same page and speaking the same language is invaluable to me.”
Approximately 45 percent of Therapy Center’s professional employees, including therapists, have completed the first stage of EFL training, and many of those employees have gone on to complete the training through the four stages.
“That percentage of employees working on themselves and knowing how to take feedback – both good and bad – plus having more insight into how they ‘show up’ to other people makes a huge positive difference in our company’s culture,” Lemoine says.
Person agrees. “The more people understand themselves and how they relate to others, the better everyone works together,” she says.
Beyond standard company benefits, the Therapy Center provides free memberships to health clubs for its employees.
“We believe fitness and staying healthy is a big part of what we do,” Person says.
Click here to read the full article on Acadiana Profile’s website!
August 1, 2011
Respiratory Therapy Services Added to Jeff Davis Living Center, a Therapy Center Partner
Therapy Center at Jeff Davis Living Center is proud to announce the addition of Respiratory Therapy Services in Jennings, LA. The addition of Respiratory Therapist, Danny Broussard, allows for the evaluation and treatment of patients with breathing and cardiopulmonary disorders. Respiratory therapists test a patient’s breathing capacity and determine concentration of oxygen and other gases in patient’s blood. Danny will perform regular assessments, care for trach patients, and monitor nebulizer treatments. As a partner in the JDLC facility, we are happy to welcome Danny to the family.
June 2, 2011
Therapy Center Hires Recruitment Manager
Therapy Center is proud to announce the hire of Ava Tanner Hebert, Recruitment Manager. Hebert is formerly Ava Tanner of Bunkie. She is a 2006 graduate of University of Louisiana, Lafayette with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing. Ava is a nine-year resident of Lafayette and a provisional member of the Junior League of Lafayette.
Hebert will be responsible for employee recruitment and hospital relations, as well as coordination and implementation of Therapy Center’s marketing campaigns and strategies.
Therapy Center was founded in 2002 by five local therapists with the simple goal of providing superior care to patients and helping them maximize their potential and live life to its fullest. Therapy Center partners with nursing homes to provide high quality, cost-effective rehabilitation services. For more Therapy Center news and developments, find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!
Immediate ACTION needed! Cuts to Medicare Proposed
Contact your Representatives today and ask them to sign on to the Latham-Neal Letter to CMS urging the agency to delay an exceptionally high proposed Medicare payment cut to skilled nursing facilities.
We must ensure that our nation’s seniors continue to have access to the critical health care services provided by skilled nursing facilities. Take Action Now!
May 23, 2011
Therapy Center Scores 100% In Mock Audits
Therapy Center recently underwent two separate, in-depth mock RAC audits and scored a perfect 100% in each! We proudly share this news as a testament to our ethical reporting practices, stringent preparation, and consistent training and education.
May 3, 2011
Therapy Cap Repeal Bills Introduced: Help Our Congressional Champions Stop the Cap!
Your help is needed to spread the word about the re-introduction of the repeal legislation in the current 112th Congress and to urge your elected officials to become cosponsors of the bills. Click here to find out how to contact your local representatives and to learn more about the impending bill.
