Stroke Rehabilitation & Support

A customized, team-based treatment approach keeps patients motivated as they work intensively to improve their ability to think, move, walk, talk, eat and care for themselves. Our rehabilitation experts keep patients motivated. Our doctors, who are board-certified physiatrists specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, collaborate with our certified rehabilitation registered nurses.

• Gait therapy. Our physical therapists help stroke patients redevelop their brains and bodies for walking. During gait therapy, patients may use body-weight supporting technologies and some may qualify for the Indego® exoskeleton clinical trial.
• Indego® exoskeleton. An FDA-approved, wearable robotic frame that enables stroke survivors to stand up and walk.
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). A clinical trial that gives qualified stroke patients the benefit of FDA-approved Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), also called deep brain stimulation, to improve brain function.
• Improving brain function. Our occupational therapists help patients improve their thinking abilities using advanced tools like the Bioness Integrated Therapy System. The system measures a patient's cognition and assigns customized challenges to retrain the brain.
• Development of speech and swallowing abilities. Our speech therapists help patients regain speech and throat control using tools like VitalStim (a non-invasive, external electrical stimulation therapy).
• Intensive therapy. Physical, occupational and speech therapies are provided a minimum of three hours per day, five days per week
• Neuropsychology/Psychology. Neuropsychology is a field within clinical psychology that is dedicated to understanding the relationships between the brain and behavior, which can be applied to stroke rehabilitation.
• An immersive rehabilitation environment at Downtown St. Charles to practice real-world adaptive skills before hospital discharge.
• Complimentary treatments not widely available elsewhere, including acupuncture for stroke symptom management and visual motor imagery techniques to help retrain the stroke-altered brain. These are offered in conjunction with, rather than in place of, traditional medicine.

For stroke patients with chronic upper limb deficit, there is a new elective, outpatient procedure being performed at St. Charles Hospital:

An innovative neurostimulation device, the Paired VNS™ System is helping stroke survivors regain movement and strength in their arms and hands. The procedure is performed by St. Charles Hospital neurosurgeon Bailey Zampella, DO.

The Paired VNS™ System is an FDA-approved, breakthrough technology that employs vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) during rehabilitation therapy to enhance neuroplasticity, helping generate two to three times more hand and arm function for ischemic stroke survivors than rehabilitation therapy alone. 

After the surgical implant, patients will then undergo six weeks of dedicated rehabilitation at a Catholic Health Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation location, which has proven to restore not only movement, but also hope for patients to have a more active and independent life. 

To initiate Paired VNS Therapy, a neurosurgeon implants the small neurostimulation device beneath the skin in the upper left chest during a brief, outpatient procedure. During subsequent rehabilitation sessions, a physical or occupational therapist uses a wireless transmitter and proprietary software to signal the device to deliver gentle pulses to the vagus nerve as the stroke survivor performs individualized, goal-oriented tasks such as hair brushing, buttoning a shirt or cutting food. Rehabilitation exercises paired with simultaneous vagus nerve stimulation triggers the release of neuromodulators, creating new neural connections and helping the brain relearn the skills that were lost from the stroke.

As a designated stroke center and the only hospital on Long Island with CARF International accreditation for inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, St. Charles’ dedicated stroke team assist patients affected by stroke.  In addition, stroke survivors who have upper limb deficit, can now take comfort in knowing that VNS therapy can help them regain arm and hand movement which can greatly enhance their quality of life.

For more information about the VNS procedure or to see if you are a candidate, call (934) 223-7146.