When a patient recently arrived at Prisma Health’s Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital with a spinal cord injury, he was ready to give up — on himself, on life, remembers Elizabeth DuBose, Roger C. Peace’s associate administrator.
“He just didn’t want to move forward,” DuBose recalls. But something happened, she says. Something transformed him.
Now through his rehabilitative stint, this same man volunteers his time to come back and speak to other spinal-cord-injury patients, encouraging them to keep fighting.
“He’s telling them it’s going to be OK. He’s reminding them we’re all in this together,” DuBose says.
And that’s what’s at the heart of the Roger C. Peace model — everyone together, all in, all the time.
On paper, Roger C. Peace offers inpatient and outpatient care and community programs for anyone who has had a spinal or brain injury and now faces any number of short- or long-term diagnoses.
But for DuBose, a physical therapist by training who joined Roger C. Peace almost 17 years ago, Peace is a place people come to have new life breathed into sometimes shattered bodies and broken dreams.
And key to it all is sticking together, DuBose says, given that the average patient stay can be almost three weeks and some can need up to four months.
It’s the time factor that surprises families the most, says Clinical Director Sheldon Herring, who heads up the facility’s Outpatient Brain Injury and Young Stroke Program.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” he says. “And that’s why that continuum of service is so important.”
You’ll hear those three words repeated often during a conversation with DuBose and Herring: “continuum of care.” It’s their anthem and, according to Herring, their greatest differentiator when combined with the high level of specialization on staff.
“We have incredible, dedicated, caring team members,” DuBose says. “There is this committed group of people pouring into our patients, giving the best care possible.”
Herring says everyone shares in the joys, the pains, the wins and losses.
“When a patient graduates from the program we have a ceremony for them and, without fail, you hear the laughter — we’re sharing in that joy,” he says.
In other words, Roger C. Peace is filled with experts who share the responsibility of ensuring the best possible outcomes, and love doing it.
“Most of our patients need physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy… and supporting all that care is a case manager. We’re highly interdisciplinary, we work as an integrated team and, as a result, there are fewer gaps in care. It’s patient-centric,” Herring says.
DuBose says one of the first questions asked of a patient is: “What’s the one thing you’d like to get back to doing?”
Some say “hold my grandchild again.” But others are more everyday oriented. Someone might just want to make a cup of coffee or ride a bike. “Another said, ‘I want to vacuum!’” DuBose says with a laugh.
But the question — and the answer — form the basis of the work they’ll do to achieve the goal. It’s called “patient-centered goal setting,” and Herring says they’re looking to expand it to other communities.
“We’re advocates at the local, state and national level for our constituents. We’re going to bat for them,” he says of the many staff members who hold key positions on critical boards.
DuBose says there’s excitement around an adaptive sports program for those who have experienced a life-changing injury, a way to reengage through paracycling, pickle ball and more.
There’s even a wheelchair basketball team.
“The Roger C. Peace Rolling Tigers,” DuBose says, beaming. They’ve also added adaptive yoga and mindfulness sessions.
The point? Giving every patient hope.
“It’s a hopeful environment — people are on their journey to healing — and we have nurses and therapists working with the patient to meet their goals,” she says.
“A journey implies a destination, an outcome,” Herring says. “So what are the steps along the way? It’s different for everyone and it’s a complex journey both for the patients and their families. Helping them navigate that process is what we do.”
