MAY 2019
IN THIS ISSUE Clinician’s Corner by Ted Fifield Throwing it All Away - Overhead Athletes The Extra Mile 7 Steps for Dealing with Upset Patients
ON THE ROAD
PTSMC Wellness Program The end of the #GetMoving Challenge
Organization Inservice Goes On The Road!
HR Buzz HR is going on the road! Time off refresher 401(k)
For the first time in PTSMC history, the Organizational Inservice will be a “road show.” This year, there are four Organization Inservice events. PTSMC’s long standing tradition has always been about gathering together to discuss the health of the organization, consider our future, celebrate our people and enjoy some time together. It is always a special time for me.
Social Media Sensation: Stephanie Weyrauch Patient Sucess Story PT at PTSMC Newington helps a patient walk again
In the next week or two we will celebrate the opening of our 22nd location. Our growth has created what I generally term “good problems.” We are healthy and growing. This is a good problem to have!The ability to get all 270 employees in one place at a convenient time and at an easy location has become a logistical challenge. Approaching this year’s event, we considered attempting a “virtual” meeting. Perhaps we could “stream” a live event into all the offices? We considered the technical challenges and attempted to understand what this approach would look like. In conversation with many of our people, it became evident that we weren’t ready for this jump just yet. Conversations with partners, the admin team, the LMDP class, and several others made it clear that a “go-to” meeting just didn’t feel right. In exploring alternatives we landed on the idea of bringing the meeting to our people. Perhaps a “low tech, town hall” style meeting could work.
We decided on four times and locations and selected Our Spring 2019 Get Together is the Hartford Yard “host” clinics that made the most sense. My hope is that Goats game on May 11th at 6 pm on the Heineken this approach will preserve many of the values and Party Deck! It’s not too late to join the fun! characteristics of our “traditional meeting” while helping to reduce the challenges associated with schedules, travel and ultimately clinical care.
StriveHub Fab 5
“I rated a # 10-because this very professional team I look forward to the opportunity to spend some time “on the road” reconnecting with a great group of people. helped me to regain my confidence. With their It is your commitment to our mission and the communi- interventions- physically, intellectually & emotionally I regained my level of functioning with insight in ties we serve that has created this “good problem.” how to manage my aging back with ease. There is a Thanks for all you do. See you soon! a very special atmosphere here- you feel welcomed and truly know you matter.” - Plainville
Alan
ORANGE GRAND REOPENING Celebration On April 11th, over 80 past and current patients attended PTSMC Orange’s Grand Reopening Celebration in honor of their recent move to a larger, more updated facility. The event featured food, drinks, and a ribbon cutting ceremony by the Orange Chamber of Commerce.
“The entire staff is professional and very respectful and extremely helpful. I am very grateful that I am attending this facility. Ted and his staff have helped me tremendously!” - Branford “PTSMC is completely patient focused. They all have been excellent, coaching me to achieve the best state of health post, bilateral knee replacements.” - New London “The PTs do an excellent job of helping patients work through the difficulties they are having in order to improve. Great friendly environment with professionalism and kindness.” - Waterbury “Love the personal attention to detail. The staff and the facilities are just top notch. The BEST I have ever been to.” - Middletown
CLINICIAN’S CORNER Throwing it All Away TED FIFELD PT, DPT PHYSICAL THERAPIST WATERTOWN
The calendar has rolled into May, and with it comes the smell of fresh-cut grass and the sound of the ball hitting the glove that marks the final sports season of the school year. Perhaps you are already rehabbing an overhead athlete. If so, consider how much strain their arm has been through this year relative to proper training and rest, without which they could be in danger of throwing it all away. In recent springs, there have been almost as many updates to pitch count regulations as tax laws. The enforcement of a pitch count began in Little League in 2007 to limit fatigued throwing to prevent shoulder and elbow injuries in baseball and softball players. Do you know how many pitches a pitcher is allowed to throw in a given day? How about how many days of rest are required after pitching? These are the current mandatory Little League rules for pitches per day based on age (A) and day’s rest following pitches in a day (B): A. League Age: 13-16: 95 pitches per day 11-12: 85 pitches per day 9-10: 75 pitches per day 7-8: 50 pitches per day
B. Pitches in a Day: >66: 4 days rest 51-65: 3 days rest 36-50: 2 days rest 21-35: 1 day rest 1-20: 0 day rest2
Interestingly, Little League has no required rest for pitchers over 16. It shouldn't have to be argued that these young athletes too require rest, but it is currently not mandatory. Certain rules do exist to limit position changes – most notably for catchers – but we have to question how well these rules are enforced. When factoring in practice, warm ups, pitches between innings, playing other positions, or playing another sport or on another team that falls outside the rules, it’s difficult to ensure they are being followed. Most states, including Connecticut, have their own rules for high school pitchers. The CIAC (Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference) provides such restrictions for high school pitchers based only on pitch count: Pitches in a Day: >110 - 4 days rest 76-110 - 3 days rest 51-75 - 2 days rest 26-50 - 1 day rest 1-25- 0 day rest1 USA Baseball and MLB's Pitch Smart recommend limiting college pitchers to a max of 120 pitches per day. That would result in five days’ rest after throwing 106+ pitches with four days’ rest following 81-105 pitches thrown in one day.
Furthermore, they recommend that all pitchers take four months off from overhand throwing, including at least two to three months consecutively. As stated by USA Baseball, "Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parent and the athlete to ensure that the player follows the guidelines for his age group over the course of a year."3 According to NATA (National Athletic Trainers Association), there are five ways to help prevent overuse injuries: proper education & supervision, pre-participation physical exams, rule changes and participation limits, training and conditioning programs, and delayed sports specialization. Before the season, athletes should first start a basic fitness routine and then increase training loads by no more than 10% per week. In season, there should be a structured warm up program to help prevent injuries. They recommend limiting sport to 16 to 20 hours per week, having one to two required days off from sport, and only participating on one team of the same sport per season.4 All of this information makes it even more important to talk about overuse with your athletes and their parents/guardians, along with coaches, trainers, doctors, etc. as needed. Their treatment plans are patient-specific and dependent upon countless factors, from participation to injury history. That same pitcher you're treating could be playing on a travel team or could've had symptoms throwing a football. If this overhead athlete continues to overuse their arm, particularly with poor mechanics, they are likely to get injured and not recover fully. Sources:
1. CIAC Baseball Committee, Modification of the Pitching Limitation Rule. https://www.casciac.org/pdfs/ModifiedBaseballPitchingRulewquestions.pd. November 21, 2018. (Accessed April 10, 2019). 2. Little League, Regular Season Pitching Rules. https://www.littleleague.org/playing-rules/pitch-count/. (Accessed April 10, 2019). 3. MLB Pitch Smart, Guidelines for Youth and Adolescent Pitchers. https://www.mlb.com/pitch-smart/pitching-guidelines. (Accessed April 10, 2019). 4. Valovich McLeod TC, Decoster LC, Loud KJ, Micheli LJ, Parker JT, Sandrey MA, White C. National Athletic Trainers' Association Position Statement: Prevention of Pediatric Overuse Injuries. J Ath. Tr. 2011;46(2):206-220.
CLINICAL EXCELLENCE
The
Extra MILE
Clinical AudiT Team expands!
7 Steps for Working with Upset Patients
As PTSMC continues to grow, so does the audit team. We have added our fifth auditor! The PTSMC Audit Team welcomes Lindsey Scianna, PT from the Watertown office, to the team. Lindsey has been with PTSMC for over 4 years and continues to expand her leadership role by joining the audit team. We look forward to utilizing her knowledge and expertise in her role as clinical auditor. The audit team now includes (from left to right): Lindsey Scianna, Michelle Gallerani, Emily Hansen, Traci O’Brien, Danielle Dunn, and Kasey Adinolfi.
Patients may become upset or frustrated for a variety of reasons, and it is important that these situations are handled in the utmost professional and positive way possible. These interactions are key to creating and maintaining lifelong relationships with our patients. How you respond can make the difference between a patient who feels satisfied and respected and one who vows to never come back. Use these tips for managing tense situations and working towards a satisfactory resolution. 1. Remain calm. Sometimes this is the most difficult thing! You must maintain control of yourself. Take a deep breath or drink of water to stay calm and focused. 2. Do NOT take it personally. Often, they are frustrated with a misunderstanding or miscommunication during their experience. Separate yourself from the emotions of the situation, and remind yourself that this is about the patient, not you.
STUDENT PROGRAM UPDATE
Samantha Aube (Washington University) will start her affiliation with Stephanie Weyrauch in Orange on May 13th. Devon Dusseault (American International College) will start his affiliation with Channing Hardwood in Plainville on May 20th.
2019 Courses Email coned@ptsmc.com to attend
May 17-19 Sacred Heart University Myopain TDN 2 Clinicians $995 Email28-29 coned@ptsmc.com to register September PTSMC Guilford Therapeutic Neuroscience Physical Therapist Education: Teaching People Avon Pain About (part-time) Newington$475 Clinicians Southington
October 12-14 Sacred Heart University Myopain TDN 3 Clinicians $1,095 * Cost is subject to number of participants, meals and any additional instructor expenses.
Tom Kassan, West Hartford Partner & Director, taught the course, “Understanding Pain and Building a Therapeautic Alliance” at Admin on April 30th.
3. Use your best listening skills. The first thing an upset patient wants is to be heard. Listening patiently can be a start to defusing a situation. Once the patient is done expressing their frustration, summarize what you have heard to confirm you understand the issue. Body language is critical! Keep eye contact, nod to show you are with them, stand or sit up straight and keep your arms uncrossed. 4. Actively sympathize. Express sympathy for the confusion or unpleasant experience. Respect and understanding go a long way toward smoothing things over. 5. Apologize gracefully. Whether the patient’s view is legitimate or not is frankly irrelevant. If you want them to stay a patient, you need to express an apology for the problem they feel they are experiencing. A simple, straightforward statement is often all that is needed: “I’m sorry you are not happy with your experience. What can we do to make things right?” 6. Find a solution. Once you understand why the patient is unhappy, it is time to offer a solution. Ask them what they feel should be done or put forward your own fair and realistic answer to the problem. In most cases, that’s all the patient is looking for. If this is not a situation you alone can resolve, be honest with them, and seek out assistance. 7. Take a few minutes on your own. After the situation has been resolved or put on hold, it is helpful for you to take your own “time-out.” Even if you’ve handled the situation in the most professional way possible, it’s still a stressful experience. Rather than let that stress linger inside you, take a short walk or find someone to talk to who makes you laugh. This clears your mind and heart.
HUMAN RESOURCES Get to Know HR!
Karen Havlicek and Sandra Boccialetti will be hitting the road to visit with you. You’ll receive an email with the date we’ll be in your clinic. We plan to be available for the day. This is an opportunity for you to sign up for a 15 to 30 minute meeting to ask questions or just chat. Get to know your HR team. We are here to help and support YOU in any way we can. Examples of what you may want to discuss are: • Paychex Flex system • Benefits • Policies • 401(k) • D4Ds • Chat about how everything is going in your position
Vacation Time Use it or lose it! Employees will lose any unused accrued vacation hours by your reset date. Unused vacation hours will be deleted on the reset date. Full time employees are allowed to use up to 40 hours vacation before the hours are actually accrued. Part time employees are allowed to use up to 20 hours vacation before the hours are actually accrued. Balances will be displayed as a negative. The system will not allow entry of vacation requests if hours will exceed -40 or -20. Holiday Time off Policy Holiday Time Off Policy now includes holiday and personal hours. The accrual remains the same for all employment categories, however the total hours will include those used as personal hours. The holiday time off accrual schedule is listed below: Full Time (FT) Part Time 30 (PT 30) Part Time 20 (PT 20)
56 hours (48 holiday and 8 personal) 42 hours (36 holiday and 6 personal) 28 hours (24 holiday and 4 personal)
Holiday hours will continue to only be used on the actual holiday. Personal hours must be used during the calendar year: January – December.
We look forward to visiting your clinic and meeting with everyone!
For eligible employees, Holiday hour balance is located under “Holiday” in Time and Attendance.
Time Off Refresher
401(k)
All time off accruals, balances, reset date and remaining accrual for the year are displayed in Time and Attendance under the Time off icon.
Employees who would like to make a change to their 401(k) biweekly contributions for the 3rd quarter of 2019 must complete the request by Friday, June 14, 2019 to be effective with the July 3, 2019 payroll. It only takes 3 quick steps to change your contributions:
Sick Time Roll it over! Employees will not lose any unused sick hours. Sick hours will rollover each year to a maximum of 160 hours for FT, 120 hours for PT (30) and 80 hours for PT (20) employees.
• Login to www.jhancockpensions.com • Click on Manage and contributions • Your current before Tax and/or Roth contributions will be displayed. Click on the arrows to adjust your percentage then click continue at the bottom of the page.
MAY BIRTHDAYS Madeline Lynch Michelle Gallerani Kathryn Floodquist Vicki Palmieri Alyssa Pilkington Jenn Detlefsen John Galer Sierra Gelsomini Andrew Wolak Traci O'Brien Drew Gallagher Emily Searle Jasmine Lumasag Kyle McCormick Hannah Joyner Karen Havlicek Jeff Daley Nicole Kowalski Brittany Kearney Kathryn Pereira Rebecca Petrosino Nathan Gockel Jessica Fontaine Miriah Ventre
1 2 4 4 5 5 5 6 7 8 10 11 11 11 13 15 17 17 18 20 20 27 28 28
New Haven New London Watertown Wallingford Middletown Admin Guilford Wallingford New Haven New London Southbury Branford Orange Guilford New London Admin New London Avon New Haven Wallingford Naugatuck/Waterbury Plainville Watertown Guilford
ANNIVERSARIES Amanda Bozzuto Chelsea Cordova Cody Filingeri Katie Rymsza Lauren Peladeau Olivia Tarca Paulina Davidson
Guilford Guilford Avon New London Groton Windsor Groton
PSC PSA PT Aide Physical Therapist Physical Therapist PT Aide PSC
Drew Gallagher
Southbury
Partner & Director
Mike Gans
Guilford
Physical Therapist/ Director of Clinical Excellence & Residency Program
EMPLOYEE NEWS
Leadership Management & Development Program graduated on April 23rd!
NEW EMPLOYEES Welcome to PTSMC. We’re so happy to have you!
Congratulations!
This group completed the year long leadership journey with their culminating session in Old Lyme on the best weather day in April. (From left to right) Sara Anelini, PT Aide Essex Madison Edmunds, PT Aide Naugatuck Jordan Grant, PT Aide New London Natalie Swanson, PT Aide Middletown Not pictured: Sydney Iannantuono, PT Aide New London
Pictured from left to right: Sandy Wickman Mason, Rebecca Petrosino, Josh McAdams, Alan Balavender, Mike Durand, Melissa Lembo, Tom Kassan, Eric Horne, and Nick Almonte
CURRENT JOB OPPORTUNITIES AT PTSMC Physical Therapist Naugatuck New Milford Southington
Patient Services Coordinator Physical Therapy Aide Branford Guilford Essex Orange Groton Southbury Naugatuck West Hartford New London Westbrook Westbrook Windsor Windsor Check PTSMC.com for our most up to date postings and feel free to share! We’re always interested in connecting with referrals of colleagues and friends. Call Karen if you are interested in a position.
to the following employees who have achieved the attendance reward for the 4th quarter of 2018 and 1st quarter of 2019! Nick Almonte Victoria Carcova Dan Delgado Ted Fifield Lauren Peladeau
Rick Purdy Danica Sadowski Olivia Tarca Stephanie Weyrauch
Congratulations!
Molly Killeen, PSC Watertown, got engaged to Mike Deely and is getting married in November of this year.
Mike Gans, PT Guilford, Program Director of Orthopaedic Residency, and Director of Clinical Excellence, welcomed Amelia Sophie on March 19th.
Chelsea Cordova, PSA Guilford, welcomed Emmitt Walsh on March 29th.
PTSMC Happenings - PT for Life Deliveries!
- OUT IN THE COMMUNITY THIS MONTH Saturday, May 4th at 9 am Orange at Cinco de Mayo 5k Saturday, May 4th from 12-5 pm Middletown YMCA Healthy Kids Day Monday, May 6th at 11 am Danielle Dunn presenting “Vertigo: It’s Enough to Make Your Head Spin” at the Wallingford Library Wednesday, May 8th at 12:15 pm Rick Purdy presenting “Vertigo: It’s Enough to Make Your Head Spin” at the JCC Woodbridge Sunday, May 19th at 9 am Newington Library 5k
Special Media Sensation
Patient Success Story Alexa, a Newington patient, suffers from spinal stenosis. After a 14 hour day, she couldn’t get out of bed the next day. She realized her posture was off. In her words, she looked the Leaning Tower of Pisa. After finishing PT at PTSMC Newington with Tom Kassan & Joe Allen she immediately felt some relief.
“I left able to stand almost straight and actually get into my car without shooting pain. THANK YOU for taking great care of me and giving me pain relief and exercises I can do at home. 5-star service and care. Stephanie Weyrauch, Orange PT, has been an active social media participant in the #GetMoving Challenge and sent pictures of her trip to Washington D.C. for the APTA’s Federal Advocacy Forum.
I highly recommend them for any of your PT needs!”
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REMINDER:
The May Wellness Meet : Pilates Day May 4th 9 am - 12 pm Southington Clinic RSVP to wellness@ptsmc.com
Life Beat
in v o M t e #G
challenge
Congratulations to everyone who completed the #GetMoving Challenge! The winners will be announced on May 3rd. You will receive your prizes at Organization Inservice.
I’ve achieved my goal! Now what...?
1. CELEBRATE- Acknowledge your commitment and work by giving yourself a little celebration such as a night out to dinner with friends/family, a new clothing item or shoes/sneakers, maybe even a bit of champagne! 2. REFLECT- Take time to look back on what it took to achieve your goal. Write down what worked and what did not so you can carry the right tools into your next endeavor. 3. SET A NEW GOAL- Build off your previous goal to create a new one. Your bar is now higher so keep challenging yourself. Remember to be S.M.A.R.T. when you set that goal! 4. SCHEDULE- Just like the #GetMoving Challenge, plan ahead and implement weekly tasks into your schedule so your goal remains a priority. 5. ENLIST SUPPORT- Accountability is the toughest part of achieving a goal. Find someone (or a group) who has a likeminded goal. Plan to do things together, check-in with each other, and provide them with accountability in return. 6. REWARD- Incentive is one of the best motivators. Decide on a reward when you decide on your goal. To further incentivize yourself, create a friendly competition with someone where the winner gets a prize (personal #GetMoving challenge maybe?). 7. REPEAT- No matter what, celebrate your achievements and always strive to elevate yourself.
#GetMoving Inspiration - Christine Raffone! #GetMoving is more than just a fun challenge that drives competition and interaction at PTSMC. It's a way to establish healthier habits. Our hope with this challenge is that you learned something new or grew as a person. We had a few people reach out to us about how they were using this challenge as a jumpstart to a healthier life, but we wanted to share a specific story from Christine Raffone, PSA in New Haven, who shared that she already lost 9 pounds and is excited to keep moving! "I definitely feel a change! For someone who didn't exercise at all, going for a walk or to the gym 3 times a week has been a huge improvement! I have more energy and feel better overall. The challenge is what got me up and going. I have also taken a healthier eating approach. Along with the exercise, this is making for an overall better me. I hope as time goes on to increase the exercise amount and duration, but I'm taking it in slow strides. To see the scale move, even just a little at time, is complete motivation. The #GetMoving challenge has also helped me to spend quality time with my girls and promote healthy family time as they are joining me at the gym, on hikes, etc. I’m sad it’s over, as there is no one to keep me accountable but me, but this was a great start for me to #GetMoving and get on the right track!"