Canton Woman Celebrates Rehab Success

   Sue Bullock, of Canton does a range of motion exercise with Brittany
Wieszczyk, a physical therapist at Maplewood Health Care &
Rehabilitation Center in Canton. 

CANTON – Referring to herself as a “graduate,” Sue Bullock, of Canton looks back on her physical therapy experience at Maplewood Health Care & Rehabilitation Center as a positive one, noting she can do things now that she couldn’t even do prior to her injury.

Ms. Bullock, who broke her shoulder in three places this past spring following a fall while going out to eat with some friends, said she didn’t even realize her shoulder was broken until the day after her fall. “I woke up in the middle of the night in so much pain, I called my daughter and had her bring me to the hospital,” she said.

X-Rays were taken and surgery was discussed, but ultimately Ms. Bullock elected to treat the injury through rest and therapy. “The doctors told me that even if I had surgery, I could still have a limited range of motion, so I opted not to do that,” she said, adding she began attending physical therapy three times per week this past May.

“The first time I came here my arm was in a sling so I couldn’t move it, but it’s not any more, and in fact, I can do things now I wasn’t able to before,” she said. “It was slow for a little while, but for the last five or six weeks of my treatment I could feel improvement every time.”

While Ms. Bullock was seeing Physical Therapist Brittany Wieszczyk three times per week, therapy wasn’t just limited to her time at Maplewood. “They gave me some great exercises that I could do at home,” she said, adding that she still continues doing the exercises at home even though her therapy concluded in October.

The need to do exercises at home is something that Ms. Wieszczyk said some people may not realize until they end up in a situation similar to Ms. Bullock’s. “Almost every patient who participates in physical therapy receives exercises customized to their diagnosis to help them succeed with rehabilitation,” she said. “I always tell my patients that a large component of how much they improve is based on what they do at home when they are not in physical therapy.”

In July Ms. Bullock’s therapy was reduced to two times per week, making the exercises at home even more important. “People only attend therapy a few times per week for an hour at most, so what they do at home is up to them,” Ms. Wieszczyk said. “Sue did an excellent job with her home exercises and we reviewed them at each session. She has made a great recovery.”

When asked to describe her therapy experience Ms. Bullock said, “It was fabulous. Everyone is so kind. After coming in just a few times, it becomes like a family,” she said. “I’ve told my doctors they should send people here.”

For further information on therapy services at our Maplewood Campus in Canton call (315) 386-4541. To reach our RiverLedge Campus in Ogdensburg, where therapy services are also offered, call (315) 393-0730. You may also visit us online at www.unitedhelpers.org or like us on Facebook.