2023 Sigma Rehab & Centers Health Care Retreat Succeeds on Many Levels

The 2023 Centers Health Care & Sigma Rehab Health rehabilitation therapist retreat at Rivers Casino in Schenectady, the second one of its kind, took place from September 12 -14 this year, and it was educational, entertaining, and all in all, highly exciting. It was a time for these therapists from Centers Health Care and Sigma Rehab Health to get an overall update on the progression of the department, learn about the changes that have taken place, get an idea of new initiatives, and reward achievements on a number of different levels. In addition to leadership from Centers Health Care and Sigma Rehab Health’s therapy team, on hand were all regional directors, facility rehabilitation directors, and assistant directors, as well as a number of Centers Health Care and Sigma corporate leaders.

"This being our second retreat, we wanted to take it to another level and I feel we truly did," said Centers Health Care and Sigma Health VP of Therapy Services Mike Forzano. "My team and I, along with our CEO at Sigma Health Rehab Steve Schabes, are so proud of each and every one of our regionals, Rehab and Assistant Rehab Directors, as well as their hard-working therapy teams back at the facilities. They all deserve a big hand with doing such a tough job throughout the year."

The week was hosted by Centers Health Care and Sigma's Corporate Rehabilitation Director of Education & Clinical Practice Richard White and the company's Corporate Rehabilitation Educator and Reimbursement Specialist Erica Davison. In addition to the number of sessions and awards ceremony, the week also included many games such as a joke-telling judging and rating game.

The sessions included discussions about the latest advances in stroke rehabilitation, conflict management, the future of skilled nursing facilities focusing on Medicare and Medicaid, the future of value-based and managed care and the competition for future business, updates, and changes regarding Minimum Data Set (MDS), audits and appeals and some of the new strategies in therapy

On Wednesday evening, the 2023 Sigma Centers awards were given out in five main categories:

• Sigma Split Award - Directors of Rehab who cover more than one Sigma site (Onondaga’s Jocelyn Nackley from Onondaga Center)
• Sigma Team Crossover Award - Directors of Rehab who extend themselves to helping other departments within the facility (Rebecca Bronk from Kingston Center)
• Sigma Rising Star Award - New Director of Rehab who have quickly made a huge impact in the department (Five winners included New Paltz Center’s Kara Petrosky, Slate Valley Center’s Kylie Cavalarro, Bronx Center’s Erika Lin, Williamsbridge Center’s Geenan Cubilla, and Buffalo Center’s Peggy Bojic)
• Assistant Director of Rehabilitation (ADOR) of the Year Award (Amsterdam Center's Jen Rollman)
• Director of Rehabilitation (DOR) of the Year Award (Boro Park Center's Jeff Gryzbowski)

Mr. Forzano was extremely touched at this year’s retreat stressing how each facility's department works together as a family, as does the department as a whole, including the regionals working together. Sigma CEO Steven Schabes also spoke and touched on the importance of good therapists working together as a whole and how that fully benefits patient care.

"This is a great bunch of people and it really demonstrates people who care, love their jobs, and know that at the end of the day, they have benefited the lives of their residents in such a big way," said Mr. Schabes. "This event shows the unity of this department and I'm proud to be a part of it."

Centers Health Care is one of the largest networks of skilled nursing facilities in the northeast and Sigma Rehab Health is the rehabilitation arm of the Centers Health Care facilities.