The Life Care Center (LCC) of Valparaiso is committed to providing quality care to both its short and long-term patients. LCC offers skilled care 24 hours a day with a focus on inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation. Director of Rehabilitation, Paula Hyde has worked with LCC for 22 years and can’t imagine being anywhere else.
“It's been my only job,” said Hyde. “When I graduated, I started at Green Valley Care Center, which is also a Life Care building in southern Indiana. When we moved to Northwest Indiana, I transferred to the Life Care Center in Michigan City. I then transferred to the Valparaiso location when a position opened because I live here.”
Hyde wanted to work for a long-term care facility that tried to minimize its use of contract companies to fill positions. Working directly for the facility helped Hyde develop a support network composed of management, coworkers and staff. This network of support pushes Hyde to do the best work that she can for the patients in the Valparaiso facility.
“I've had excellent management. The nursing and therapy staff that I've worked with are unlike any other,” said Hyde. “I don't think I would find anything more enjoyable than being here. Now that I've been in this building for about 20 years, it's become my second home.”
Since Hyde stepped into a management position, she’s moved away from direct patient care to oversee the day-to-day operations of rehabilitation for all patients of LCC. LCC of Valparaiso features both long and short-term rehabilitation care for patients. As the caseload grows, Hyde is responsible for making sure that patients have everything they need for the best outcome.
“We have short-term rehab. Most of them would like to go home. They're here for therapy, they're here for rehab, and then hopefully they get to go home,” said Hyde. “We also offer long-term. We see a lot of long-term care patients due to various reasons, such as new onset of pain, a fall, or a swallowing issue.”
Recently, the LCC of Valparaiso has been getting an increase in patients who need maintenance therapy. Maintenance therapy is physical therapy done to keep patients from regressing where regression may be the only option if therapy ceased altogether.
“We have over 20 patients on our caseload, and a majority of them are in maintenance therapy,” said Hyde. “We see them three times a week to maintain their ability to walk and their ability to transfer. If we weren't involved with them, they would be more wheelchair-bound or require a lift for transfers. Many of our residents need that one-on-one. Even if it's only for 30 minutes, it's very beneficial.”
Hyde and her team deal directly with the patients, and Hyde recognizes how integral they are to establishing a good patient-provider relationship. Luckily for Hyde, her staff are just as motivated as she is to provide top-of-the-line care.
“I have an excellent staff committed to the highest quality of patient care that they can provide. I'm fortunate that way,” said Hyde. “I can always count on them to follow up on any patient concerns. We meet weekly to specifically discuss our discharge plans and how they're progressing to continue the highest level of care.”
Hyde’s team keeps LCC of Valparaiso’s reputation as high as it is because they go above and beyond in their patient care. Both internally and externally, patients are aware of the quality of the care they’re receiving, and it shows in their consistent improvement.
“We have been around a very long time and we have a really good reputation in the community,” said Hyde. “A lot of people enjoy the atmosphere we provide. The residents themselves get comfortable here, and we have a very good staff that makes sure of that. We frequently hear that our staff is attentive and tries to meet residents’ needs.”
Hyde has been providing her expertise to LCC for two decades and it appears in the quality of care every resident receives. It’s partially why LCC of Valparaiso has managed to run so smoothly throughout the years through crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and previous infectious outbreaks. Hyde and the rest of LCC of Valparaiso’s management are dedicated to giving every patient care that makes them happy and healthy.
To learn more about the services offered by Life Care Center of Valparaiso, visit its website at lcca.com/locations/in/valparaiso/.
