Lessons re-learned

She now lives in a studio apartment that provides assisted living. “I wouldn’t be where I am now without the therapy I received at Medcenter One Mandan Living Center,” she said.

Kuntz, 85, had been living alone in her Mandan apartment. “I had done everything for myself, including shopping, cooking and driving,” she said. “It was a terrible feeling to no longer be able to do the little things you take for granted. I couldn’t even dress myself anymore.”

All living centers owned and operated by Medcenter One offer a team approach to therapy provided by occupational, physical and speech therapists.

“We see patients with conditions including Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, brain injury and bone fractures,” said Dannette Huber, a Medcenter One Living Centers physical therapist.

Kuntz’s physical therapy focused on walking, strengthening and improving her balance while standing. “We determined she would not be able to walk long distances, so we focused on maneuvering a power wheelchair and worked on transferring and functioning independently from it,” Huber said.

For several weeks, Kuntz also had speech therapy focused on cognitive functioning including memory, awareness, reasoning and safety awareness.

“Cecelia had movement in her left arm but wasn’t able to do tasks involving fine motor coordination, like buttoning,” Zimmerman said. “A patient often forgets about the side affected by the stroke. We had to retrain her brain to increase awareness of the left side of her body and the environment on that side. She had to learn daily activities in a modified way because she could no longer do things the way she had before the stroke.”