OMHC plans for future fundraising

ODESSA – The local Healthcare Foundation will host its annual fund-raising event May 6.

Attendees will have the opportunity to financially support two projects at the hospital and the assisted living facility, Quail Court, while spending time with their friends and neighbors.

This year’s hospital project is the addition of an aquatic therapy pool in the physical therapy department at OMHC.

Water increases mobility, so pool-based exercise helps people get and stay fit, or regain fitness and function, without joint damage or excessive strain. Water provides gentle but effective, uniform resistance pressure and supportive buoyancy so that individuals gain strength and endurance crucial for rehabilitation and healing. T

he buoyancy and ability to float allow for non or minimal weight bearing exercises used in a wide array of patients from post-surgical knees, hips, backs, and shoulders to strokes and severe arthritis patients. Aquatic therapy is proven to help both body and mind and is effective treatment for many chronic diseases and conditions that limit movement and improve quality of life. It will alleviate many life limiting symptoms.

The therapy pool will allow unique and specialized year around benefits to all ages and disabilities in the community and region. The new therapy pool will accommodate several patients at a time including the aquatic physical therapist and could even allow for arthritic restorative type classes/sessions under supervised assistance.

Lastly, the warmth of the water experience during aquatic therapy assists in relaxing muscles and vasodilates vessels, increasing blood flow to injured areas. Patients with muscle spasms, back pain, and fibromyalgia find this aspect of aquatic therapy especially therapeutic.

OMHC would be the only Rehab department in the region offering this type of advanced therapy. The project will require some modest remodeling and expansion of the current physical therapy gym.

The Quail Court project is comprised of adding a new center island, stove top, and exhaust hood to the Quail Court kitchen. Most of the resident meals are prepared on-site. These new additions and upgrades will enhance the staff’s ability to continue to provide quality home cooked style meals for residents.