Complaint Review: Healthsouth Desert Canyon Rehabilitation

I just wanted to start by saying that I was not going to write this rippoff report as just wanted to put everything behind us, but recent response from this institution made me realize that I must share the lack of professionalism on the part of their supervistor physical therapist Megan(last name unknown) and outpatient service person (cant remember her name) and the prior CEO Daniellel..

My wife suffered a very severe stroke on March 23rd, 2001.  We did not have insurance and was discharged from the hospital two months after her stroke.  Because she did not have insurance, the Rehab facility at Sunrise Hospital would not treat her and sent her home.  My wife worked out at home every day.  She is paralized on the left side, but walked with a hemi walker(full assisted) and rode her bike at home every day. 

in August of 2012, we contacted Desert Canyon to check on the cost of possibly having my wife do one or two sessions per week.  We have a business and although did not make allot of money at the time, felt it was necessary to have her get "professional" Physical Therapy.

We had her first consultation with Megan(Supervisor) and Deana (Student).  They evaluated my wifer and her abilities.  When they were done, my wife asked Megan if she could help her walk.  Megan responded by saying that she would have her walking in one month.  (this is what she said.).  My wife was so excited that she pushed me to have her attend Outpatient

Megan also worked it out to were my wife could have two weeks of free inpatient therapy.  Unfortunately, through the fault of my wife, she did not go and continued to attentd outpatient services.  My wife had a bad experience at sunrise hospital with a strange man walking into her room and talking to her...  She was so scared that she can not stay in a hospital room by herself anymore.  She was scared to be at Desert Canyon at no fault to the facility.  This was strickly my wife's choice not to stay at the inpatient facility.  (We thank them very much for trying so hard on this part)

Because money was tight, we started a few months with three sessions per week and went down to 2 and then 1 session per week near the holidays and again three in the new year.  My wife attended sessions for 9 months.  At the beginning, megan and Deana tried different techniques with my wife ranging from lite gait, mechanical machine to teach her brain how to walk again to Muscle stimulators.  This was going on for the first and second month.  After that, they went to using a walker specilized to help her stand up straight and walk. 

unfortunately, because her leg was not strong enough to move on its own, every session after that, they would have her try to walk but move her leg for her.  This went on for the remaining time using similar two handed walkers.  (I was asked to help by trailing with her wheel chair and or help her stand up so she does not walk.  We were assigned another therapist while Megan was out for a week or two.  His name is Riley.  He was god sent.  He noticed that having my wife walk everyday was useless as she could not stand up on her own less alone balance herself even in a non-support chair.  He worked with her in standing up and sitting over and over again.  He phushed her to work on balance before walking.  Great job!.  When Megan returned to work, we requested to have Riley work with my wife once a week on strenghtening her core(Stomach) as he was a man and was much stronger then Megan.  Megan was very upset with this and stopped working with my wife.  She would walk in and out of the therapy room and ignore my wife.  This was very noticable to the therapists and Therapist Tecs as they asked us what happened.  Why was she acting this way.

After a while, Megan started to assist my wife again and went back to the walker.  After nine months of therapy, I constantly asked Megan why cant she use the hemi walker as she used it at home with great progress.  This went on a few times...

In march of 2013, I was contacted by Megan and told that since I was complaining so much about the type of therapy my wife was receiving, it was the official notice that she be discharged from the facility and encouraged to find a more suitable facilty as Desert Canyon was obviously not able to help my wife further in her quest to walk again.

I was very upset at megan and told her that this was the most unprofessional behavior I have ever seen from any MEDICAL FACILITY in my life.  I called and emaled the CEO and as she was Megan's Friend (Per megan) she sided with Megan and pretty much told us to go elswere.  I aslo sent emails to the board of directors letting them know what happened and received no contact from them whatsoever.

I contacted the Physical therapist Board to inquire about what type of therapy my wife was suppose to receive and was told to file a complaint against Megan and the hospital for poor and inconsistent service.  I was told that the type of exercise should be changed constantly especially if it is not working or the improvement is less then acceptable.  In my wife's case, she had the same therapy exercises for months and months. Everyday was exactly the same as the previous.  She would try to walk and they would move her leg for her.  When I complained, she was kicked out like garbage.

We did not file a complaint as I am sure Megan is a good Therapist when she does not allow her personal feelings get in the middle of her professional employment.  We believe that she was offended that we requested a different therapist and that I was asking her to change the therapy as it was not working.

I am sure Desert Health South has helped many people with physical rehabilitation, but I can tell you that when my wife was first admitted as an outpatient, they were not certified for stroke Rehabilitation.  megan told us that she had to take some courses to become stroke certified after she was already working with my wife for months.

My main complaint is that this facility is unprofessional as Megan put her personal pride before the health and rehabilitation of my wife.  She convinced the hospital administrators to follow her Personal vendetta towards my wife by kicking her to the street and not caring about her health, Rehabilitation needs and willingness to walk again.  For me this is the ultimate insult.  We have seen other rehab facilities and although Desert Canyon is the faciest and has many other services that I am sure assist in a great way, other facilities care more about their clients/Patients and especially care about my wife having the care she needs.

If your insurance allows you to seek other Rehabilitation facilities, do not go to Desert Canyon.  If you have no choice but to go to Desert Canyon, make sure you ask not to have Megan as your therapist.  She is unprofessional and allows her personal pride to interfere in your/your families rehabilitation.   

I still think that this is a good rehabilitation hospital and can do allot of good.  Just beware of the lack of professionalism from its supervisors and management.