Veterans from around the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin staying at the Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center in Iron Mountain, Michigan, for short term rehabilitation or long term care will now have additional physical therapy options that are both convenient and state of the art.

The VA medical center recently opened a physical therapy (PT) satellite clinic in its Community Living Center, the medical center’s long term care and short term rehabilitation unit.

The new PT satellite clinic will offer inpatient residents additional rehabilitation opportunities with the newest, state-of-the art rehabilitation equipment on the Community Living Center’s main floor. This equipment includes the latest models of recumbent steppers, upper and lower extremity conditioning bikes, and full power adjustable parallel bars.

“This equipment will provide the Veteran with the most up to date rehabilitation techniques for recovery from brain and spinal cord injuries,” said Josh Early, a Physical Therapist at the VA Medical Center. Early was working with retired Navy Veteran Roy Chellew, the first patient in the satellite PT clinic.

Not only will these inpatient Veterans receive the most up-to-date physical therapy treatments, they will also be more timely and convenient. Prior to opening the satellite clinic, residents needed to be transported to the medical center’s main PT clinic on the fifth floor.

“Veterans residing long term or short term at the Community Living Center are now right ‘next door’ to physical therapy services, which greatly improves their access to rehabilitation,” said Early.

“Our primary goal is to provide the highest quality physical medicine and rehab care in as close to a home-like environment as possible,” said Jim Zeigler, Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, “and this satellite clinic in the Community Living Center does just that.”