Life is better lived with purpose. Many of us feel lost and unmotivated when no longer able to do the activities we love. The teams that work within the traditional medical systems care deeply, but some feel they are sometimes not able to follow a patient through the full cycle of recovery after a life impacting or chronic health event.
The patients get care until medically they are required to go home, even though many have not reached their full potential nor have they been set up to live a life filled with purpose, hope, growth and prosperity.
This is what encouraged Lisa Jundi — who worked for 19 years in the traditional medical system – to change the model and the status quo.
In January 2019, Lisa started the process to build a unique practice focused on personalized therapy programs based on a patient’s life purpose. Is the purpose to live independently and be able to visit family? Can the patient go back to work with the right modifications? Would the patient want to channel their prior skills into helping community organizations give back? Was the patient athletic so that finding the right activity, such as a modified bicycle, the way to keep them healthy and engaged? And most importantly, can the person once again be able to live life to the fullest?
Purpose Driven Therapy designs their therapy programs based on each person’s goals.
Some diagnoses are for life or have a very long recovery. Most traditional programs limit the visits that will be provided. The cost of most appointments is prohibitive on an individual basis, because the traditional approach is based on an appointment model.
Lisa sees patients across most diagnoses, and her approach is especially beneficial to those who have chronic issues or need ongoing therapy to thrive. She has turned the model on its head and expanded it to provide more than two to three hours of therapy a week.
For some patients it is necessary to kick start things with daily appointments the first week so they are motivated by seeing what progress can be made with consistency. This also allows her to gain insight into how the trauma is impacting the person’s entire body and lifestyle. Most insurance does not restrict how many times a patient can be seen in a week. The appointment restriction typically is facility driven. Lisa explained,
“There is so much momentum that can be gained by seeing a brain injury patient more frequently at first, in order to ensure that we can incorporate enough exercise and activities into their day to develop new pathways within the brain.”
After becoming familiar with the patient, Lisa, her team, the patient, and any caregivers are able to design a strategy to include therapy into the daily routine. Most people are resistant to exercising all day. When healthy we get exercise doing daily tasks. But for some, opening the mail a different way is vital brain-enhancing activity. For others, walking to the mailbox, using a cycling peddler while watching TV, standing during commercials, petting the family dog, putting together a puzzle, or playing a board game can also help a person keep active and engaged.
Eating a manageable snack using a weak hand instead of using the stronger hand is occupational therapy. And for many unable to walk, riding a bicycle to get outside and get exercise may be more doable than you ever imagined.
Group classes
In addition, Lisa and her team offer group classes, which can extend a person’s therapy at a minimal cost — as low as $5 a class session in some cases. She offers classes to community organizations such as the senior centers and senior apartment complexes.
She works with local businesses, helping them understand how to make their own events more accommodating for people with restrictions or sensory challenges, like setting up a sensory room at the local Pizza Palooza.
She will work with the patient to extend their exercise alternatives through other community entities. Her team does not stop there. For patients with temporary or permanent mobility challenges, her team and her website recommend options to increase independence: Equipment companies. Transportation independence options. Home modification options. Living a full life is about incorporating your therapy into your life — not living for your therapy.
Live your life with purpose. Every day of your life should not need to be focused on managing your disease or disability.
Impact of current events
Purpose Driven Therapy opened its doors July 2019 — less than a year ago. The business is new. The staff is PRN, which means they are paid when there are patients for them to see. This also means that they are a dedicated group of people invested in this vision much so that they were willing to sacrifice these past building months in order for patients to have this highly needed innovative option.
This is not a business where you open your doors and people come to shop. This is a business where several factors need to come together for patients to arrive. The person needs to have a need at the same time that they find out about the services provided.
Lisa is an experienced physical therapist. As a new business owner, she spent months to set up learning about how to apply and work with the insurance companies, how to market, and how to hire. Her efforts paid off. Most businesses can take years to be sustainable or profitable enough to grow. Her business was on its way to being able to expand its services and the hours worked by her team members.
Now, talking with Lisa, she is concerned about remaining sustainable. Due to being high-risk populations, all but one of her patients cancelled. None of her classes are being offered to protect people. Yet all of her expenses still exist: all the insurance required to be a medical provider; the rent, electric, water, phone systems, medical billing company, and personal bills still need to be paid.
Despite this setback and the stress of the financial impact, Lisa’s concern for her patients is her primary focus. She and her husband have worked to gear up her ability to offer online resources to the patients so that they do not regress during this time.
She has ensured that her Parkinson’s patients have access to a free Delay The Disease online class by providing the link from the program’s developers. When working with degenerative diseases, it is so vital that they keep moving in order not to regress.
She herself is creating tai chi videos so other patients are able to continue moving in safe and practical ways at home. She is also exploring other technologies such as Google classroom to see if it is a viable option for an active live group session — this requires research and learning, which she is willing to invest to really try to help those she sees.
Her office is offering teletherapy appointments. This would allow anyone with a smart phone, tablet, or a computer with a microphone and camera to work directly with them for physical or occupational therapy via the device. Though this does not offer the benefits of actual hands-on therapy, it reduces the negative impact of not continuing therapy.
They will be able to demonstrate certain movements, clarify any questions the patient has, and monitor the patient’s implementation of the exercise.
She is also offering virtual home safety checks using a device camera. Though it might not be possible to assess all elements, it would be of great assistance to families to understand changes that might be made to help during this time of restrictive home activity. The caregiver or patient may walk through the house with the camera and together they can discuss suggestions for how to make things safer and easier.
Currently, Lisa is able to see patients one on one. To ensure physical distancing, she is seeing only one patient at the office at a time. If you require physical therapy and you would prefer to have the entire place to yourself, Lisa is able to take new patients at this time.
If you want to use this down time to set up exercise programs for your organization once the physical distancing guidelines have become more relaxed, call Lisa at Purpose Driven Therapy.
She says her first concern is her patients and the detrimental effect that this may have on their recovery or prevention. Her second concern is the ongoing opportunity for her practice to continue to offer the services that she has been able to provide to the community.
Purpose Driven Therapy is located at 3014 Graham Road, in Stow. For info, call (330) 805-4786, visit www.purposedriventherapy.com or find the company on social media.
Editor’s note: Sheilla Reydak, from Reydak Consulting Group Inc., is an author, distance meeting facilitator and consultant. Her husband also is a patient at Purpose Driven Therapy.
