South Jersey is known for its ardent health care community, with an expansive number of options for skilled providers and varied specializations. Furthermore, the region’s providers incorporate innovative technology and research to ensure that each patient’s unique needs are addressed—providing the best quality of life possible and improving patient outcomes.
While regular checkups are vital, one should take a comprehensive approach to their health—which may include nontraditional health professional visits. The human body is complex, and when both mind and body are considered in a holistic manner, individuals will have heightened access to care that is best for them personally.
Allied health professionals are the occupational therapists, administrators, assistants, technicians and trainers who each provide an integral role in shaping patients’ treatment plans. The collaboration of health professionals also accounts for every part of the patient experience—from the beginning to post-recovery, in some cases.
South Jersey Magazine spoke with senior vice president chief medical officer for Virtua Health Jennifer Khelil, DO, MBA and senior director of outpatient services for Bancroft NeuroRehab Rich Ciullo, for their expertise and an enhanced glimpse into the realm of allied health.
How do you see the role of allied health professionals evolving in the next five to 10 years, especially with the increasing demand for specialized health care services?
“Health care is a team sport. While most people are familiar with the roles of doctors and nurses, they may not know or appreciate the wide variety of people and professions that make the industry what it is.
“Virtua Health is academically affiliated with Rowan University, which includes an allied health program. This is exciting because we are actively helping to shape the next generation of health care professionals, including those who will work in our own hospitals and medical practices.
“For example, Virtua-Rowan offers the first and only baccalaureate respiratory therapy program in New Jersey. Respiratory therapists are essential. They can be found in doctor’s offices, sleep centers, home care, emergency rooms, ICUs and so on. As our population ages, we will need more respiratory therapists, so we have a responsibility to train and develop them and demonstrate the value and impact of selecting this discipline as a career.” —Dr. Jennifer Khelil
What goes into developing an individualized plan for each patient, their goals and their needs?
“We have a staff of physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists and neuropsychologists across three locations. … Each patient gets a detailed evaluation, and we treat all of our patients one-on-one. Each clinician has the opportunity to spend an hour with each patient without the use of any aides, or without having to balance between two or more patients. We use different screening tools to help different functional outcome tools—or patient questionnaires—to determine certain needs.
“You can’t treat every patient with a broad brush, so when the clinicians are evaluating the patient, they’re going to get from that evaluation—or at least from the first couple sessions—what the best approach may be. Will they need to get the caregiver involved? Are they going to be compliant with any kind of home exercise program in order to best recover?” —Rich Ciullo
In your view, what steps can the local health care community take to better integrate allied health professionals into primary care teams, ensuring more efficient and holistic patient care?
“The keyword is team. At Virtua, we work so that each primary care practice feels like a team. Just like a baseball team has a pitcher, catcher, shortstop … a primary care team benefits from people to fill the diverse roles. Also, like a sports team, we have dedicated huddles to bring everyone together and develop a plan for the day.
“One example is our Pride Primary Care practice in Marlton, which serves the LGBTQ+ community and allies. The practice is staffed by two physicians, three medical assistants, a licensed clinical social worker, an office assistant and a scheduling specialist, among others. The practice also brings in lab services and doctors who specialize in GI and OB/GYN care.
“All these people and disciplines are essential for providing care that recognizes the vast and varied needs of the individual receiving care.” —Dr. Jennifer Khelil
In what ways are innovative technology, research and methodology implemented in your patients’ treatment plans?
“All of our clinicians practice evidence-based treatments. We really focus on what the science says and what we do. We have incorporated different technologies: Meta Quest—or virtual reality—used with patients for balance, and there’s different games that you can play within the virtual reality world that relate to therapy. We also have something called a Bioness [Integrated Therapy System]—think of it as a giant iPad—that clinicians are able to use to work with patients on memory, cognition and different functional activities.” —Rich Ciullo
Resources
Bancroft NeuroRehab
Mount Laurel
(844) 234-8387
NeuroRehab.Bancroft.org
Virtua Health
Serving South Jersey
(888) Virtua-3
Virtua.org
Inspira Health
Mullica Hill
(856) 508-1000
InspiraHealthNetwork.org
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Published and copyrighted in South Jersey Magazine, Volume 21, Issue 8 (November 2024)
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