Friendship & Bonding Can Also Be Therapeutical at Ellicott Center

78-year-old Sarah Cooper from Gowanda, New York, went down a challenging road more than a year ago during the summer of 2023, but only a memory now as she made 2024 a much better year. Sarah had been diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pyelonephritis, a kidney condition that results from ongoing kidney infections or even other urinary tract obstructions. It was this, a urinary tract infection (URI), that drove Sarah down the dark road of repeated falls, a common outcome of having a UTI. UTIs may lead to people falling, and this was something that had developed with Sarah.

On one of her last falls, Ms. Cooper had broken her right hip and was taken to Mercy Hospital of Buffalo. She fell on a Sunday, and for many hours after she went down, she yelled out for help. Finally, dawn broke on Monday, and her upstairs neighbor heard her, came downstairs, and proceeded to call 9-1-1. Sarah had been using a walker and tried weaning from using it, but her legs were still too weak.

Following her hospital stay, she was taken to therapy at Partners in Rehab West Seneca. It didn’t work out there, so Sarah relocated to Ellicott Center’s Rehabilitation Department for both physical and occupational rehabilitation on 7th Street in downtown Buffalo. There, Sarah excelled, and with the rehab care from Occupational Therapist Taylor Williams, Sarah spent the next six months getting stronger and stronger. Additionally, Sarah and Taylor developed a unique bond of friendship that became one of the catalysts for Sarah’s ultimate successful outcome. First, Ellicott Center’s in-house physician, Dr. Seth Mensah, and the facility’s nursing staff took care of the infection. Then, it was the job of the rehab team led by Ms. Williams and her staff to do their job despite Sarah’s eagerness to get better and go home.

“Sarah set her mind on returning home, but we thought an Assisted Living location was more realistic,” said Williams. “Her case is a prime example of the coming together of a hard-working therapy team and a determined resident who set her sights on going home. Sarah worked so hard to do so, and she made it. So happy for her.”

Although Taylor and Sarah developed a strong friendship bond, which may be one of the top reasons why Sarah improved both physically and psychologically, rehabilitation therapy at this 160-bed skilled nursing facility in downtown Buffalo continues to show solid numbers. According to Medicare.gov, while the national average of short-stay residents who improved in their ability to move around on their own is 76.8 percent, and the New York State average is a bit higher at 78.5 percent, Ellicott Center is ranked at one of the highest throughout the Buffalo region at 94.7 percent. Sarah is undoubtedly proof of these numbers, but her bonding and friendship with Taylor and the Ellicott rehabilitation team may not be measurable. Still, if they were, they would be off-the-chart on the positive scale.