SIDNEY — The Sargeant Family Center for Aquatic Therapy & Rehab has opened at Ohio Living Dorothy Love, here.
Donors, community leaders, Dorothy Love staff and residents and Ohio Living executives gathered, Monday, in the Amos Community Center on the Dorothy Love campus to dedicate the center and the expanded rehab area.
The centerpiece of the four-year project is a HydroWorks 2000 therapy pool.
“This is a state-of-the-art aquatic pool and the only one in our area,” Dorothy Love Executive Director Tricia Atwood told the audience of some 150 people at the dedication.
The 8-foot by 12-foot floor of the pool is adjustable in height, allowing users to enter the water without ladders or steps. It permits access to people who can walk and to those who are wheelchair-bound. Grab bars are on either side of the pool. Once on the floor, patients can be lowered into the water to any depth up to 6 feet. The floor also operates as a variable-speed, underwater treadmill. The water temperature can be adjusted for each therapy patient and water jets provide underwater, deep-tissue massage.
Cameras project onto monitor screens the picture of what happens underwater. All the variables can be controlled from a remote that a therapist can carry around the edge of the pool.
In addition to the pool, the rehab center has been expanded to include new exercise equipment.
“The new therapy gym has equipment that can be used by all ages. We’re looking forward to becoming the Sidney and Shelby County center for balance,” Atwood said.
Lead donors were Robert C. Sargeant and the late John W. Sargeant, who contributed more than $500,000 to the $1.4 million dollar initiative and evenutally raised more than $1.5 million. Additional leadership donors were Dick and the late Barbara Adams and Ray and the late Louise Koenig.
During the dedication ceremonies, Atwood, Ohio Living Foundation Gift Planning Director Thomas J. Barry, Ohio Living Chief Operating Officer Daniel O’Connor, Robert Sargeant and Jeff Sargeant, John’s son, each commended the Dorothy Love front-line staff.
“We heard from the first donor to the last, ‘We’re doing this because of the care our family got at Dorothy Love,’” said Barry.
“People don’t give money to Dorothy Love because it’s a good concept,” added O’Connor, “but because there’s a whole lot of trust, and that’s the staff.”
He also recognized contributors.
“The donors to this project are some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. Dorothy Love is what it is today because of the generosity of folks. I know that this pool will further set Dorothy Love apart. Dorothy Love is the flagship of what we’re all about at Ohio Living,” O’Connor said.
Barry commended the leadership of the Ohio Living corporation and foundation and the Dorothy Love board for designing the fundraising campaign. He also thanked the committee who raised the money.
Robert Sargeant noted that his mother and wife had been residents of Dorothy Love and that he had been there for rehabilitation of a broken hip.
“We’re fortunate to have Ohio Living and Dorothy Love put this right here in Shelby County,” he said of the pool.
Jeff Sargeant tipped his hat to his late father.
“Dad would be thrilled to see this,” he said. “Thank you Ohio Living and Dorothy Love for having something we can be passionate about.”
Campaign Chairman Ray Koenig thanked the committee and also commended the staff.
“The job you’ve done over many, many years has created a well of good feeling in the community,” he said.
Robert Seargeant and Jeannette Sargeant were presented with commemorative shovels. The Rev. Larry Oberdorf gave invocation and dedicatory prayers.
Following the ceremonies, attendees visited the center, where physical therapist assistants Mandy Holtsberry and Heather Smith demonstrated features of the therapy pool and answered questions.
The Sargeant Family Center is not only available to Dorothy Love residents but to anyone who has a physician’s prescription for therapy. The pool provides aquatic therapy that can be helpful in treating chronic pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, joint replacements, injuries, Parkinson’s disease and neuromuscular conditions.
