Christian Health Care Center Wins Award for Innovative Rehabilitation Therapy

Christian Health Care Center (CHCC) in Wyckoff often incorporates Nintendo Wii, a system promoting motion-controlled games and activities, as an innovative means of providing rehabilitation therapy for its patients and residents. CHCC’s
successful use of this system recently won a Wii Therapy Case Study Contest in
both the Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy categories. The contest was
sponsored by SunDance Rehabilitation Corporation to encourage long-term care
facilities across the Northeast region to submit a case study representing the
many ways therapy helps residents reach their functional goals by utilizing the
Wii.

Claudia Pinto, COTA, Occupational Therapist, submitted a case study outlining
the benefits of using the Wii for a patient who had a decline in muscular
strength and impaired balance while standing. The patient was a sports
enthusiast, which made him an ideal candidate for Wii Fit interventions because
he thoroughly enjoyed the activity. After several weeks of Wii therapy, along
with conventional interventions, this patient demonstrated overall improvement
in functional independence. He was able to complete all self-care activities
and felt confident returning home, and was happy he wouldn’t have to be
dependent on his wife for self-care needs. His wife purchased a Wii system so that he could continue to enjoy his therapy after he was discharged.

Laurie Glass, PTA, Phyiscal Therapist, submitted a case study on a 98-year old
gentleman who had sustained a fall at home. He had impaired ability to transfer
independently, decreased independence with walking, and decreased endurance with standing activities. He also reported extreme muscle fatigue. This patient was able to use several of the Wii games to address his health issues. His goal was to return to an apartment in his daughter’s home, which he was able to do. The Wii therapy helped him with balance issues, eye coordination, and standing activities. He also much enjoyed the Wii interventions and built confidence with ease of movement.

“Using the Wii as an adjunct to our patient’s treatment plan has been truly a wonderful experience,” said Ritchie Lim, CHCC’s Rehabilitation Services Director. “The video game system allows us to address a number of deficit areas, such as balance disorders, cognitive impairments, motor planning deficits, range of motion or strength deficit, activity tolerance limitations and more. The Wii integration into the patient’s therapies has not only been therapeutic, but fun and challenging as well. A secondary benefit is that often patients enjoy using the Wii after discharge with their family members at home, promoting a closer
relationship with children and grandchildren.”

Christian Health Care Center provides a broad continuum of high-quality,
compassionate care, offering superior mental-health, elder-care, residential
living and rehabilitation services. As a non-profit organization, we deliver
care to our community based upon the Christian principles on which we were
founded more than a century ago.