Senior community uses activities for short-term rehab - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Better medicine management and fun therapies are credited for a dramatic turnaround for an Indianapolis woman.

To see Alice Swartsell up, awake and throwing cornhole is amazing to her daughters, who describe a steady decline leading to her admission at age 84 to short-term rehab at Bethany Village on South Shelby Street two months ago.

"She was literally in an L-shaped statue when she would walk," said Teresa Graves-Mehok, Swartsell's daughter. "I just figured we would probably be saying goodbye to her in a few months, because I didn't see that there was going to be any hope or not."

They say their mother seemed out of it. Part of the problem was narcolepsy - Alice would nod off to sleep every five minutes.

"She would go out to lunch with friends and, in the process, in the middle of eating, in the middle of taking a spoonful of food, she would fall asleep right there," said daughter Connie Rettig.

"That was embarrassing to me. Somebody would be talking to me, you know, that I hadn't seen for awhile. She kept talking and I was sitting there, going..." Alice said, pretending to fall asleep.

The Bethany Village staff reviewed Alice's medications, improved her diet and got her into multiple therapies.

"Initially, she had a very difficult time attending to tasks and staying awake during therapy. She wasn't really able to understand what we wanted her to do," said staff member Jean Bennett.

Some of the therapy was disguised as a game, like Wii Bowling.

"Actually, we have several goals that are attached to those activities. We can improve coordination, strength, balance, standing tolerance and activity level in general," Bennett said.

It also requires the resident to follow instructions and attend to tasks. It's social and in eight weeks, Alice feels and moves like she did years ago.

"There was a time I couldn't move this arm. I only could move it by holding with this hand. And now, I can move it," she said.

And no more nodding off.

"But I don't do that no more, not since I've been out here," Alice added.

"She has just improved so much. It's unbelievable that this is the lady that I brought over here two months ago," Teresa said.

You can learn more about short-term rehab this Saturday at our WTHR/American Senior Communities health fair. It runs from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. At Ortho Indy South in Greenwood, which is off I-65 at County Line Road.

There are free health screenings as well as a special seminar about joint health put on by Dan McKinzie at 9:30 and 11:00 am.