rehabilitation Archives

VHS Senior VP, first director of VHS Rehabilitation celebrates 25th anniversary

Andi Petrini on July 19, 2024

VHS Senior Vice President David Crosson celebrates his 25th anniversary with the company in July 2024.

David joined the team in 1999 to bring VHS Rehabilitation to life as Executive Director. At that time, he was its only team member.

“I was doing treatments, evals, and recruiting therapists,” he said.

VHS Rehabilitation launches

His connections from previous stops with national rehabilitation contract companies helped VHS Rehabilitation (then Virginia Health Rehab) staff up quickly. At the time, the reimbursement model for nursing homes changed and it became more business savvy to provide an in-house therapy team in nursing homes for skilled care.

“Because of how the industry was changing, those therapists at contract companies and recent grads were looking for work. I was able to provide job opportunities. With me being the only person, I needed the staff, too. We were able to bring staff on pretty quickly,” David says.

About a year later, VHS Rehabilitation opened its outpatient site. Over the course of its 25 years, VHS Rehabilitation has grown to include physical, speech and occupational therapy in outpatient, skilled care and contract settings that have included assisted living centers, jails and schools.

Today, the VHS Rehabilitation team has about 70 regular team members and 250 PRNs to staff its skilled care therapy rooms, outpatient center and contract clients. The team includes physical, speech and occupational therapists, techs, assistants and administrative assistants.

David Crosson and IT Network Manager Kathy Wickline at Kathy's retirement party in July 2024. — David hugs IT Network Manager Kathy Wickline at her retirement party.

Senior VP David Crosson, left, speaks with Dr. Robert Walters and others during the open house for Coliseum's Dialysis Den — David hugs IT Network Manager Kathy Wickline at her retirement party.

While he has a background in physical therapy — he earned bachelor’s degree in exercise science and master’s degree in physical therapy from Old Dominion University — David says he prefers the operational side of the business, including staffing and dealing with regulatory issues.

During his time with VHS, David has had a hand in the acquisition of Coliseum in 2013 — “that was a big pickup for us,” he says — and spearheaded establishing VHS Home Health Care in 2015 and VHS Hospice in 2017.

“Once we got into skilled care, VHS grew a lot. We changed our operations. VHS grew along with me,” he says.

He was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2016.

Home and Community-Based Services grow

VHS bought a license from a company that was owned by the company former VHS Home Health Care Administrator Cheri Brnich was working for at the time.

“She was very aggressive in our buildings,” he recalls. “She and I clicked. She’s very enthusiastic. She was then the acting administrator at a different company and we had a good working relationship. We brought her on as administrator for Home Health.”

He says they expected a slower ramp up when VHS Home Health Care launched, but “it came out of the door fast and we had 30 residents in the first month, which set expectations really high, even though we were doing it with limited staff. … If we had known we were going to pop that fast, we would have had more staff.”

He says VHS Hospice took about a year to start from scratch and become licensed.

“My philosophy is I don’t have to be the smartest guy in the room, but I surround myself with the smartest people. If I have a good team, they make me look better,” he says. “I have the knack to help manage and have vision. That’s where growth during those periods occurred. …

“We have a great opportunity to collaborate with all of our business units. We should be the provider of choice for our residents when they need rehab, home care, hospice. There’s so much value to that.”

Reflection

The Philadelphia native met his wife while attending ODU.

“She had just started her PhD program at ODU,” he says. “Her family was here, father worked for Old Dominion. This just became the place we landed.”

He says he is proud of everything he is involved in developing.

“The Rehab piece is a big piece of VHS. Home Health and Hospice were big additions to VHS and the success of VHS. It wouldn’t be something I would want to do and walk away from,” he says. “It’s nice to see those businesses develop and evolve. And then, it’s also the people. … A lot of what I do is more for the people who work for me, and keep them employed in environments they’re thriving in.”

VHS Rehabilitation physical therapist shares best part of job is focus on individuals

Andi Petrini on June 6, 2022

Nancy Funkhouser doesn’t mind putting 100 to 125 miles on her car in a day. It’s part of the job.

And it’s a job she loves. Funkhouser is a physical therapist with VHS Rehabilitation whose patients are all coordinated through VHS Home Health Care.

“To have the privilege to do something that makes you happy, and that pays your bills, that’s like the best of both worlds. I don’t know why you’d work anywhere else or do anything else,” she says.

Focus on individuals

The role allows her to focus solely on an individual.

“The thing I love about home care is it’s you and your patient one-on-one,” Funkhouser says. “That patient gets 150% of your attention, 150% of your effort and it’s just you and them. No other outside distractions or pull to your focus.”

VHS Home Health Care helps get individuals back to living their best life by providing skilled care in the comfort of their home. The home health team contracts physical, occupational and speech therapists through VHS Rehabilitation as part of Virginia Health Services’ spectrum of services.

The VHS lines of service give individuals the best access to their care needs regardless of where they live in southeast Virginia.

Because of the nature of skilled home health care, time is often determined by insurance. Funkhouser says, “You really need to pack in as much as you can in those sessions to get as much potential and gain and recovery of function as you can.”

The supervisors make an initial visit to open a care plan and create goals with the individual. The treatment plan is rolled out to the clinical team.

“Everybody is focused on giving the patients what they need. You hope that by the end of your time with them, you’ve met the goals for your patient.”
Nancy Funkhouser

The team’s consistency allows individuals to see the same faces, “which is always better for overall patient recovery,” Funkhouser said.

Status changes can be identified and dealt with quickly when you and your team members know a patient. And the more you see them, the more they get to know you.

“When I’m with them, I give them as much as I can in the time we have,” she says.

Being a PT

Funkhouser knew she wanted to be a therapist since she was a teenager. She observed the therapists who worked with her father after he had major open-heart surgery.

That exposure to therapists in the hospital inspired her to be a therapist. She volunteered in high school and then went to school for therapy.

She spent 20 years in a hospital setting before working in home health settings a decade ago. She joined VHS Rehabilitation about six years ago and started with VHS Home Health Care a few months after it launched in 2015.

Working with VHS Home Health Care and VHS Rehabilitation put Funkhouser “in an optimal position to do what I do best, and that’s get wrapped up with the patient and get them better.”

It’s rewarding. There is independence and autonomy for the clinical team in providing quality care to the individuals VHS Home Health Care and Rehab serve.

“Here, everybody is focused on giving the patients what they need,” she says. “You hope that by the end of your time with them, you’ve met the goals for your patient.”

The passion for patients and for the job come through in Funkhouser’s voice.

“At the end of the day, I feel like if it’s a job you really like a lot, you tend to give a lot of yourself to it,” she said. “It’s just a win-win.”

Healthy lifestyle begins with ‘power-half hour’ of chair exercises

Andi Petrini on January 12, 2022

The Residents at The Arbors Independent Living are getting an assist in staying active.

VHS Rehabilitation tech Kim Kutscher leads a chair exercise class with a group of Residents daily in The Arbors community room.

“It’s a head-to-toe program with cardio,” she says. “A true power half-hour!”

Hamilton residents do leg lifts during chair exercise class

Kutscher, who has been with Virginia Health Services for 17 years, also leads a class twice a week at The Hamilton Assisted Living in York County.

“It’s booming right now,” she said. “There’s quite a few who come to class on a regular basis.”

There are about 10 for Kutscher’s class at The Arbors on a recent weekday morning. Some arrive early to chat with her and get their pick of seats in the community room.

Kutscher said the benefit of group classes is a camaraderie develops among the participants. Some participants who have caregivers are sometimes assisted as they go through the exercises.

The Arbors Residents, since the COVID-19 pandemic began, hang onto their equipment: a theraband, ball and hand weights. Kutscher said some Residents use the equipment and exercise sheet she provides to continue their work on the weekends.

Residents at The Arbors lift an arm in the air with a hand weight.

Hand weights are a recent addition to chair exercise classes at The Arbors Independent Living.

If one-on-one therapy is needed, participants are encouraged to use VHS Rehab and VHS Home Health Care. Kutscher strictly provides group sessions, seeking the advice of VHS physical therapists about adding certain exercises to the program when needed.

She says that if someone is seated for long periods of time, even if they aren’t in class, they should focus on ankle and leg work “to keep them strengthening and prevent atrophy.” Muscles can get weak, making it difficult to move from a seated to a standing position.

Her class works from the feet up, all the way through finger movement, shoulder rolls and deep breaths to close out the class.