Saint Joseph Outpatient Rehabilitation, First in Kentucky to Receive STAR Program® Certification
[Lexington, Kentucky] Saint Joseph Outpatient Rehabilitation, part of KentuckyOne Health™, has announced that it has earned its STAR Program® Certification. The certification qualifies Saint Joseph Outpatient Rehabilitation, to offer the STAR Program®, a state-of-the-art cancer rehabilitation program that will help survivors recover from the side effects and aftereffects of treatments.
STAR Program Certification is an offering of the Massachusetts-based healthcare company Oncology Rehab Partners, and it provides hospitals and cancer centers with the tools needed (training for clinical staff and evaluation and treatment protocols) to quickly and effectively implement evidence-based cancer rehabilitation services for survivors suffering from post-treatment symptoms such as pain, fatigue, weakness, and emotional distress.
Oncology Rehab Partners’ co-founder Julie Silver, MD, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, and herself a cancer survivor, said, “Saint Joseph is the first STAR Program in Kentucky and has embraced cancer rehabilitation as a critical part of cancer care. Patients are often discharged after their acute care without follow up support for help with healing. Saint Joseph’s STAR Program will help cancer survivors function at a higher level.”
Most of the services offered by the STAR Program® are covered by health insurance and are designed to rehabilitate survivors of all forms and stages of cancer. The program uses a multidisciplinary clinical approach, whereby a team of experts—rehabilitation medicine physicians, physical and occupational therapists, speech pathologists, dieticians, medical social workers, and nurse practitioners—works with each patient on a personalized rehabilitation plan to increase strength and energy, alleviate pain, and improve daily function and well-being.
According to Vickie Heierman, Manager at Saint Joseph Outpatient Rehabilitation, “the STAR Program training certification offered a tremendous breadth and depth of information on cancer survivorship and enables us to have a multifaceted approach to care. The interdisciplinary team concept will provide a strong support system to cancer survivors here at Saint Joseph. Every cancer survivor deserves to feel better and live well during and after cancer treatment. The STAR program has given us the tools to provide the necessary rehabilitation in the best way possible.”
