Brookings Health System Celebrates National Physical Therapy Month

  • October 10, 2011

Physical Therapist Jordan Jacobsen works with Dolores Bertsch, Brookings, on regaining mobility in her arm.
Physical Therapist Jordan Jacobsen works with Dolores Bertsch, Brookings, on regaining mobility in her arm.

To mark the important role physical therapy plays in maintaining people's health, Brookings Health System and others across the U.S. have joined together to celebrate October as National Physical Therapy Month (NPTM).

NPTM raises awareness of and recognizes the important roles physical therapists and physical therapist assistants play in helping people maintain, improve, and restore the mobility necessary to stay fit, active, and independent while enjoying the things they like to do as they age.

Dolores Bertsch, Brookings, attests to physical therapy's benefits. Jordan Jacobsen, a physical therapist at Brookings Health System, has worked with Bertsch to create an individualized care plan to help her regain movement in her right arm after an injury.

"Jordan and I are working on making the arm able to reach and do all the ordinary things an arm should do," says Bertsch. "I expect when we are done with physical therapy, I will be able to do all of the same things I've always done with that arm."

No matter the area of physical therapist practice, whether it's geriatrics, pediatrics, orthopedics, women's health, or another specialty, a physical therapist's role is to improve and restore motion to people's lives. Physical therapists:

  • Significantly improve mobility to perform daily activities;
  • Provide an alternative to painful and expensive surgery, in many cases;
  • Manage or eliminate pain without medication and its side effects, in many cases

For more information on physical therapy and how it may benefit you, contact the physical therapy department at Brookings Health System at 605-696-9000.

About Brookings Health System
Brookings Health System, located in Brookings, South Dakota, includes a 49-bed hospital, the 79-bed Brookview Manor nursing home, and Brookhaven Estates apartments. It is a non-profit, city-owned facility that offers the community a full range of inpatient, outpatient, and extended care services. The emergency room is staffed 24 hours a day and provides around the clock medical-nursing care for patient needs ranging from minor injuries to life threatening crises. For more information about the services offered at Brookings Health System, please call (605) 696-9000 or visit us on the Web at brookingshealth.org.