Therapist Notes Strong Team Relationships Help Weather COVID-19

Jen Newman, PT, DPT, has been a Director of Rehab with Infinity Rehab for about a year. She works at Queen Anne Healthcare in Seattle, Washington. During her first year as a DOR, she actively worked on building strong relationships with her therapy team members and the facility leadership.
Then COVID-19 hit. Jen is able to rely on these existing relationships to survive the day-to-day challenges of the pandemic. Being a proactive leader has allowed her to successfully triage new protocols with the trust of the facility leadership, knowing the therapy needs of their residents will be met. It has allowed her to take a step back and focus on treating and assisting with patient care during this time, right alongside her team.
As one can expect, it has been a challenging time. But Jen notes, “I have witnessed such bravery, strength, and resilience among my team since our COVID-19 outbreak began last month. They have taken on increased responsibility (and workload) in less than ideal conditions and somehow continue to ask, ‘What more can I do to help?’ at the end of their shifts.”
Amidst COVID-19, endless protocol changes are being made on a day-to-day basis. Regardless, Jen has observed team members being more patient and open with one another.
“The care that I have observed my team provide to our patients is exceptional,” stated Jen. “Despite being exhausted and overheating in personal protective gear, they continue to provide care to ensure all needs of the patient are met before leaving their room.”
Jen continues, “They are continually collaborating with nursing staff on new routines and techniques to optimize our processes. We are so accustomed to ‘improving function’ in stable patients and suddenly our entire treatment style has changed to ‘preventing decline’ in unstable patients during the acute phase of this illness. The teamwork and selflessness is incredible.”
Read more about Infinity Rehab’s response to the coronavirus here. To learn more about the many Infinity Rehab heroes during the pandemic, read about them on Facebook.