King’s Daughters Therapy Center

High job satisfaction is reported among the healthcare professionals who work at King’s Daughters Therapy Center, a 9,000 square foot outpatient facility located in southern Mississippi.

The hospital mission statement of King’s Daughters Medical Center (KDMC) is “Providing quality health and wellness in a Christian environment.” These words describe the defining characteristic of King’s Daughters Therapy Center (KDTC) which serves Brookhaven and Lincoln County, a southern Mississippi rural community of 35,000 with a state-of-the-art 9,000 square foot out-patient therapy facility, staffed by a team of physical therapists, physical therapy assistants, certified athletic trainers, occupational therapists and speech pathologists. Brookhaven is located off Interstate 55 approximately 50 miles south of Jackson and 130 miles north of New Orleans. Known as the “Homeseekers Paradise,” Brookhaven is a place of family and home. Residents in the area value church, community, neighbors and friends. It is a place where values are found, trust still exists and standards still have meaning.

At the foundation of KDTC’s Best of 2011 care is high job satisfaction reported among the healthcare professionals who work there, and which is reflected in extraordinarily low staff turnover. KDMC has built that satisfaction among its employees by using the principles of Quint Studer’s 5 pillars: People, Service, Quality, Finance and Growth. Putting these principles to work assures the facility’s therapists have essential tools to do their best work, including continuing education, equipment and supplies. Just as importantly, these principles empower clinicians to spend the time they need with patients to achieve excellent clinical outcomes.

In daily practice, the strength of KDTC’s Best of 2011 care comes from the one-on-one treatment delivered solely by licensed professionals who collectively treat up to 100 patients per day on average. Passionate concern for their patients, according to Christi Mills, PT, Director of KDTC, is the personal mission of our therapy staff and it is demonstrated every day by the heartfelt way they interact with each patient. Through ongoing performance improvement projects, KDTC’s leadership is able to establish specific quality goals that facilitate the best rehab outcomes. Likewise, the entire medical facility remains abreast of important administrative practices such as coding and reimbursement guidelines to ensure it is compliant, consistent and ethical in its billing practices.

The organization attributes the phenomenal growth in its services, staff and facility to the organization’s focus on maintaining a Christian environment. Last year KDMC expanded and renovated its therapy center to include a large pediatric suite, Activities of Daily Living training kitchen, hand therapy/splinting area, indoor gait training/sports track, five private treatment rooms, an indoor therapy pool and a spacious gym. At an adjacent facility located across the street from the main campus a 16,000 square foot building was renovated to serve as a 24-hour community fitness/wellness center. This facility is outfitted with a lap pool and offers a full selection of fitness equipment and aerobic classes. Some of the group fitness classes are designed to assist geriatric therapy outpatients after they have been discharged from therapy. The therapy center offers aquatic arthritis classes, low impact flexibility classes and “Sit Fit” for members to exercise while sitting in a chair.

The KDMC sports medicine team serves area athletes by providing on-site care at school athletic events and coordinating post-injury services through our orthopedic and therapy facilities. The therapy center is now able to offer full rehab and wellness services for all ages and types of people in the community. This allows the KDTC staff to help patients transition from therapy back into a healthy, safe lifestyle.

All of KDTC’s physical therapists are APTA credentialed clinical instructors. King’s Daughters Therapy Center is proud that it attracts students from across Mississippi to receive clinical training in the facility and learn from the unique practice and culture it has established. KDTC is equally proud to have earned praise as the number one requested clinical education site by one of its affiliating schools. A foundation of solid principles and staff of dedicated, engaged professionals who practice with a one-on-one focus is what makes KDMC’s care Best of 2011 not only for Mississippi, but—the organization believes—for the nation.