Two Seymour Hospital programs help keep patients local for healthcare

SEYMOUR (KFDX/KJTL) — Hospitals aren’t just for emergency situations and surgery, a lot of times they offer services to heal the mind or provide comfort for patients.

In our final Celebrating our Healthcare Heroes special, we explore two special programs at Seymour Hospital that provide different kinds of healthcare.

Exercise doesn’t have to be a drag in fact, at the Randal Wellness Center in Seymour, it’s every bit as fun as it looks.

“A lot of studies have shown that people who exercise regularly tend to have better improved mental health and their physical health improves as a result of that because they move around, they’re able to be mobile more and exercise is really a good thing and it helps a lot,” Licensed Professional Counselor and Program Therapist Lance Temple said.

Temple has worked at the Randal Wellness Center for 19 years.

“It’s really rewarding, that’s why I’ve been here so long,” Temple said.

The program, which is part of Seymour Hospital, offers a place for seniors to go for exercise not only of the body but of the mind too and in a group setting.

“We try to address such things as grief, depression and anxiety, basically life’s challenges for seniors and we have a lot of educational groups, we teach them how to cope with depression and anxiety and issues that seniors face later on in their life,” Temple said. “We all get older and we’re gonna have to face the issues.”

For those who can’t get out of the house just yet, Home Health, which is owned and operated by Seymour Hospital, brings the care to them.

“We help with showering, setting up medications, physical therapy goes in and does exercises, rebuilding their strength back up and then maybe then they can move into an outpatient setting,” Seymour Hospital Home Health Director of Nurses Stormie Carrington said.

Carrington is proud of her program which provides skilled nursing in the home, physical, speech and occupational therapy, plus aid services.

“Whatever is going on, you can’t always make it to Wichita Falls, Abilene, Fort Worth, so getting the patient treated here makes all the difference in the world, it can save a life,” Carrington said.

It’s a team of mostly hometown nurses who know what makes Seymour and rural healthcare special.

“Our care mostly comes from the heart, because we know the majority of our patients,” Seymour Hospital Home Health Assistant Director of Nurses & Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Kimbra Hajek said.

“A lot of these patients have been our teachers or family members of people that we went to school with,” Carrington added. “We’re able to pick up the phone and call on a moment’s notice, hey we need some help here, what’s going on.”

A couple of programs Seymour Hospital offers to help people get through tough times, without having to travel very far or maybe not at all.

“Seymour and the community of Seymour and this area is really blessed to have this program because it allows our seniors to maybe shut-ins or shut at home or isolated, it allows them an opportunity to get out and socialize with their peers as opposed to staying at home, looking at 4 walls all day,” Temple said. “Which would be depressive for anybody to do that.”

The same goes for those seniors who aren’t able to get outpatient care just yet too.

“You would have a lot of elderly out there that maybe aren’t safe at home,” Carrington said. “Have a harder time getting the care that they need,” Hajek added.

For these three, it comes down to the importance of having a multi-functioning hospital with services that keep patients in town for care.

“I’m so appreciative that we are able to have a hospital here and a home health that’s able to provide good care for our community, especially in emergency situations,” Hajek said.

Two facets, not inside the Seymour Hospital, but every bit as important to it.