Millions of Americans suffer from strokes each year. Left with partial paralysis or lose of language skills, these individuals get rehabilitation services to try to regain their independence and return to living as they did prior to a stroke. The counselors who help stroke patients are tasked with evaluating how severe the damage to the brain was and what the prognosis might be after rehabilitation.

My grandmother suffered a stroke in 2004 at the age of 84. Until that time, she lived a full, independent existence. She did her own shopping and paid her own bills. She lived alone and walked up a flight of stairs several times a day to her apartment. She entered a Transitional Physical Therapy Program which helped her re-learn how to use the stairs and use a step stool to get into cabinets.  She also was assigned to an Advanced Occupational Therapy Program to access her ability to continue to live alone.

The therapist who helped her was an angel. She worked patiently and with determination to help my grandmother heal and regain the independence she so enjoyed. The therapist has graduated from   Master of Science Health Science Programs and the skills and knowledge she brought to the healing process was beneficial to my grandmother and the rest of my family as we learned how to care for my grandmother.

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