Sulphur Springs Health & Rehab
Sulphur Springs Health and Rehab has been in operation for 50 years, offering health care, rehabilitation and nursing to Hopkins County citizens. Since opening, SSH&R has housed countless people with varying illnesses and infirmities while also offering employment to hundreds of people.
“Our residents are encouraged to be as independent as possible, and to have all the fun they can have, as well as rehabilitation,” Administrator Mary Grant said. “SSH&R staff constantly seek out ways to give back to the community, and thereby help our residents continue to feel as part of that community. Our goal is to have every church and every organization, as well as schools, government offices, and businesses partner with us to make this a place of living. The gentle souls who make up the clientele of all four nursing homes and two assisted livings in Sulphur Springs are the men and women who helped establish and maintain our community.”
Today, SSH&R has 80 employees with an annual payroll of $2 million. SSH&R offers more progressive rehabilitative and long-term care programs, as well as short term or respite care to its residents. The method of care is sometimes seen as contradictory to proper senior care, but the people as SSH&R would disagree.
“At Sulphur Springs Health and Rehab, our philosophy is to provide each person with the environment and assistance that promotes the greatest level of care while encouraging independence,” Grant said. “Sometimes, people think we are being mean when we tell the resident, ‘we want you to propel your own wheelchair down the hall,’ or, ‘you need to walk all the way to the shower by yourself.’ This sort of treatment encourages the person to develop and maintain independence. Becoming dependent on other is the first step toward decline.”
SSH&R has a new addition to treatment methods with the Music and Memory Program, a program sponsored by the Department of Aging and Disability Services. The theory studies the effect of music on areas of the brain involved in aging-related dementia.
“Each targeted resident is provided with an iPod and earphones,” Grant said. “The iPod is loaded with music that particular resident can relate to, old favorites, and even old commercial ditties. When they hear the old familiar strains, the neurons in the brain produce a calming effect, reducing behaviors, and even allowing the patient to connect back to the world verbally.”
The facility at 411 Airport Rd in Sulphur Springs accepts admissions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. SSH&R accepts Private Pay, Medicare, Medicaid, Long-Term Care Insurance, HMO Provider and most other private insurance. People can call (903) 885-7668 for more details.
