Page 80 - Robeson Living

SeHealth and RHCC partner to provide
(cont. from previous page) “What I remember most from our stay in the NICU was how the therapists educated us about proper
feeding and handling techniques for a premature baby,” White said. “Harrison was so small, and they made me feel more
comfortable and prepared when it was time to take him home.” health care services at storm damaged medical clinic
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Because of advanced-level competency requirements and the continuous examination, evaluation, and modification of
procedures during each patient contact, the NICU is a restricted practice area for certain levels of therapists.

“Typically, we see babies at 32 weeks or more gestation, which is about two months preterm,” Zope said. “When they are born
preterm, their systems are not geared to take stimulus and process it. They’re so small, so medically fragile, and must be handled
very delicately or they could be inadvertently harmed through the examination and intervention procedures. At the same time,
they’re being managed medically, and we’re constantly examining how they’re responding to the therapy.”

Adding therapists in the NICU rounds out the efforts of the medical team and the family.

“An infant might be in the NICU for two or three weeks, and parents can’t be there around the clock,” Hunt said. “If they’re
preterm, they’re often not able to be with their mothers or even out of the warmer unless it’s with someone who is skilled in
watching for signs of distress. We can take the time to do positive interactions with the babies, who need positive touch and non-
noxious stimuli, to help balance out the poking and prodding they have to endure for medical reasons.”

The therapists might carefully hold or position a baby in the fetal position, like he would be in the womb, rather than lying flat, to
help him develop muscle tone by encouraging the baby to flex and push as he would do normally. The NICU also works to create
environmental modifications to closely resemble the womb, like keeping the room warm and dark.

“We’re looking for reflexes and signs of developmental delay,” Zope said. “Babies in the womb have mile marker reflexes they
develop, but when they’re born preterm it can be harder for them to develop. We can start intervening early to combat or
minimize the deficit or effects caused by their situation. Sometimes it’s not as overt, like a cleft palate, or other times it might be SeHealth and RHCC Board Members and CEOs are pictured following the announcement on May 22 of a partnership to
something bigger, like a heart defect. We look at how they respond. Knowing typical neurodevelopment comes into play, as does
understanding how several complex systems integrate in development.” re-open the Dr. A.J. Robinson Medical Clinic, which was closed because of extensive damage following Hurricane Matthew.
The new partnership will be renamed Dr. A.J. Robinson Community Health and Wellness Center.
Most of the babies that the therapists see are preterm, while some are also experiencing Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS).
These infants are born addicted to a substance and the therapists use their techniques to help the babies through the withdrawal Officials with Southeastern Health (SeHealth) and Robeson Health Care Corporation (RHCC) recently met on the grounds
symptoms. of the Dr. A.J. Robinson Medical Clinic to announce a partnership to provide health care services at the facility, which was
closed following Hurricane Matthew in October 2016 because of extensive flooding and storm damage.
“NAS babies have nervous systems that are used to being on drugs,” Hunt said. “As they go through withdrawal, you need to The announcement included a new name for the facility, the Dr. A.J. Robinson Community Health and Wellness Center.
intervene in different ways. In addition to medical interventions, we provide deep pressure, infant massage to help calm
everything down, to help guide them through that experience.” SeHealth announced in November 2017 that funding had been secured to restore the facility, which is located at 800 Martin
Luther King Jr. Drive in south Lumberton. Through this new partnership announced today, once all restoration has been
NICU Manager Andrea Pratt says she is very appreciative and proud to work with the therapists in her unit.
completed, RHCC will lease the facility from SeHealth in order to provide health care services to the community to include
primary health care coupled with on-site behavioral health care.
“As a recently upgraded Level II NICU, the care we provide to our infants and their families has tremendously impacted our
community,” Pratt said. “Jyutika and William have come into the NICU with open arms and treated each of our infants with “SeHealth and RHCC have worked together on a number of successful collaborations over the years and it is our mutual goal
ranging diagnoses as if they are their own. The treatment the infants are receiving from these therapists is helping decrease the that health care be available and convenient for this part of our community,” said SeHealth President/CEO Joann Anderson.
length of stay and impacting long-term developmental milestones in a positive way.”
RHCC President and CEO Tim Hall said, “RHCC is pleased to continue our collaborative relationship with SeHealth. Both
About the providers RHCC and SeHealth are committed to making quality healthcare available in Robeson County. It is our pleasure to join
forces to once again provide primary health care and add much needed behavioral health services for the residents in this
Jyutika Zope, MHA, OTR, CLT, earned a master’s degree in health administration from University of North Carolina at Chapel community.”
Hill, and a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy from University of Mumbai, India. She is also certified in lymphedema
therapy and is a member of the National Association of Neonatal Therapists. She has extensive experience in occupational According to SeHealth Vice President of Corporate Services and Chief Strategy Officer David Sumner, approval to restore
the facility and cooperation from a number of agencies, including the City of Lumberton and FEMA, was granted after 12
therapy and health care management. She is currently coordinator of inpatient rehab services with Southeastern Health. months of thorough analysis and review. SeHealth’s Board of Trustees has endorsed the restoration project as well as the
RHCC partnership and is fully committed to continuing the legacy of Dr. Robinson, who practiced family medicine in the
William Hunt, PT, DPT, CKTP, is a travel physical therapist from Cleveland, Ohio. He earned a doctorate degree in physical south Lumberton area from 1951 until his retirement in 1986 and for whom the clinic was named. The more than 6,000-
therapy from Cleveland State University in 2016. In addition, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University Chicago and square-foot facility opened in October 2000 and included a 1,000-square-foot dental office.
completed his post-baccalaureate work at Northwestern University. Hunt’s physical therapy experience includes clinical practice
and instruction from University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, University of Illinois Hospital – Throughout the restoration project, SeHealth is fulfilling all applicable rules and regulations as dictated by FEMA. It is
Chicago and at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. projected that RHCC will move into the facility in early 2019.
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