By Emily Dawson

Successful therapy starts with a simple question: “what’s important to you?” At Providence Healthcare, physiotherapists from across our programs design treatments to meet the individual needs of their patients.

This May, we are celebrating the work of our physiotherapists who provide hope and healing to thousands of Providence’s patients, residents and clients each year. The province-wide theme of Physiotherapy Month is ‘Physio Helps Lives.’ Therapists from this discipline are dedicated to working collaboratively with patients to help them achieve the goals most meaningful to their lives.

From inpatient to outpatient and into the community, Providence’s physios are enabling people to live their best life by instilling confidence, providing education, and supporting them through the range of emotions that come with having a devastating illness or injury.

Whole-person care is at the centre of what physios do every day.

Dellene Sakaguchi, a physiotherapist at Providence’s Orthopaedic and Amputee Clinic, shared what ‘Physio Helps Lives’ means to her. Dellene has been practicing since 1979 and remains deeply committed to the profession.

“To illustrate this idea, I want to tell you about Gregory Clarke,” said Dellene. “As a recent amputee, Gregory came to Providence to learn how to stand, balance, walk, and manage a prosthetic leg. By the time he left, we’d helped him with so much more than that.”

During his inpatient rehab in our Ortho and Amputee program, Gregory physically healed and worked hard to be able to return home. “I came to Providence in a wheelchair and I left with a walker,” Gregory proudly told us.

He continued his therapy in the outpatient Clinic with Dellene by his side. During these sessions, Dellene asked Gregory if he had any new goals, now that he was back home. Number one on his list was to return to work.

Said Dellene, “Gregory wasn’t working and I could tell that he was feeling discouraged. I wanted to help him see himself as more than an amputee, and remind him of the value he could bring to the workforce. He is Gregory Clarke, not Gregory Clarke the amputee.”

“I tried to find creative ways to build his confidence outside of his therapy. I invited him to join our Shared Medical Records committee as a patient advisor. Gregory has a lot of talent and experience, and I knew that he’d be a great advisor to this important work. It was a win-win for us both.

“I also knew that Gregory was attending Providence’s ‘Rehab to Community’ program at Variety Village, and he’d been asked to be a spokesperson and a peer support for other people entering this program,” Dellene explained. “With both these roles, Gregory seized the opportunities we presented to him and took ownership of helping himself.”

That emphasis on holistic wellness means that Dellene often tells her patients that it’s normal to be sad or angry. Real whole-person care looks at the physical and emotional healing. Physiotherapists, along with the entire interprofessional team, play an important role in both.

“I always try to provide hope to people through humour and a positive outlook. If I can get my patients to laugh during therapy, I know they’ll have more success. Yes, as a physio, I help people walk again and move within their abilities but my real job is to help them be the best they can be.”

Gregory is a testament to this approach. Now back at work, Gregory’s confidence is higher than it’s been since his amputation. He told us “what the rehab team at Providence does is amazing. They make therapy enjoyable, which really helps with the healing process. I am working now, but if I were not I would be participating in a lot more activities at Providence.”

As we celebrate the 41 physiotherapists across Providence this month, we offer our thanks to Dellene and her colleagues for their shared commitment to ‘physio helps lives.’