“I’m going home confident.” - A Park Place Health & Wellness Center Testimonial

“I want everybody who’s sick and needs this to come here,” Jackie McBee says passionately. It is Jackie’s last day of rehab, and she’s going home after just 18 days. This recovery is ahead of schedule, thanks to a combination of her hard work and the rehab experts at Park Place Health & Wellness Center of St. John.

Jackie came to Park Place after a back surgery, and her last surgery experience was quite different. “I was in the hospital for 23 days, and then I did home rehab. They would say, ‘Here, do this. Okay, do it again in the evening and I’ll see you in 2 days.’ Here, they watch you do it. They make sure you’re not in pain. They showed me the difference between discomfort and pain.

I’m 69 years old, and someone finally taught me this stuff! They taught me with love and compassion and concern.”

Jackie discussed the differences between rehab experiences. “It’s unique here in every way. And every single person who walks in your room knows your name already, even if you haven’t seen them before. There’s not a person here, from the cooks to the cleaning people, who are not involved in our recuperation,” she says. “Everyone is in this together. Everybody wants to help you.”

“They’re taking care of me like I was their mother. Like a queen. There’s times I forget I’m not the only patient here,” she says, and discusses how quickly her calls are answered, and she’s given what she needs. “I wait for nothing here.”

They also showed her how to properly use her cane. “I was told by my last therapist to get a cane and use it. I’ve been using a cane for 7 years.” When her therapist at Park Place noticed Jackie was using her cane incorrectly, she showed her the right way. “It actually helps. What a difference to use the cane the right way!”

Even though Jackie is going home early, she’s also going home ready. Park Place staff went to her home with Jackie to make sure she could live independently after rehab. “They made sure I was doing it properly so I wasn’t hurting myself. In my home. In my things.” They were able to show her a safer way of getting in and out of her bathtub. “I’m going home confident,” she says.

Throughout Jackie’s discussion, different staff come to her to congratulate her, and Jackie hugs each of them. “I’m torn about this. I know I’m ready to leave, but I’ll miss all these people.”

Jackie chose Providence at Home for her home health providers while she continues her recovery. “Of course I went with the Providence name,” she says. “With the success I had here, why would I look further?”

Jackie knows Park Place is still fairly new. “I think the more people who knew about this place, they’d be a whole lot more people being a lot better even faster. Nobody will ever tell me different. This place has saved me,” she says, “and I’m grateful.”