Carroll County Memorial Hospital’s Outpatient Rehabilitation Services department has been named a 2025 Human Experience (HX) Guardian of Excellence Award winner by Press Ganey, the global leaders in healthcare experience solutions and services. This award is part of Press Ganey’s annual ranking of the top hospitals and health systems in the country, according to performance in Outpatient Rehabilitation patient experience.

As a winner of the Press Ganey HX Guardian of Excellence Award®, CCMH is in the top 5 percent of healthcare providers in delivering patient experience in the last year.

“This award is a tremendous accomplishment in that it requires an area to obtain patient survey results that are in the 95th percentile or higher, measured quarterly, for one continuous year,” said Scott Thoreson, CCMH CEO. “Our Rehabilitation Services department is routinely sought out by patients who might pass by one or two other hospitals to seek their rehabilitation care – Physical Therapy (PT), Occupational Therapy (OT), Speech Therapy (ST) – from our talented staff.”

The entire team at CCMH Rehabilitation strives daily to provide the best possible care to patients through collaboration, continued learning, compassion, encouragement, dedication, and hard work. They have high expectations for themselves and for each other.

“We approach each patient with a positive outlook, giving them all available tools and resources to meet their goals,” said Mady Grider, CCMH Director of Rehabilitation Services. “Each of us comes to work with the same professional and caring approach each day, doing whatever we can to help our patients succeed. Being recognized with an award such as this helps us to be assured that the vision of excellence that we hold in our hearts is also what our patients are perceiving when they come to therapy. Really for us, there is no greater compliment than hearing that the patients think we are doing well at the job we love to do.”

Press Ganey works with more than 41,000 healthcare facilities in its mission to reduce patient suffering and enhance caregiver resilience to improve the overall safety, quality and experience of care.

“Carroll County Memorial Hospital is showing what it truly means to deliver compassionate, person-centered care,” said Patrick T. Ryan, Chairman and CEO of Press Ganey. “Their deep commitment to both patients and caregivers is creating a culture where empathy drives action—and where people feel seen, heard, and supported. It’s a privilege to stand beside them on this journey.”

“Our Rehabilitation Services department has a long history of being progressive and staying in touch with the latest research to ensure that our patients are getting the most current and relevant care possible,” Thoreson said.  “We are a host site for students who are training to become PTs, OTs or Speech Therapists and this role helps us as clinical instructors are required to stay on top of the latest developments and we also learn from the students.”

“When I came to work at CCMH Rehab in 2004, the staff was eight people,” Grider said. “Over the next 20 years, we have grown to now be 21 staff members strong altogether. With nearly a threefold increase in staff, we have also outgrown our treatment space and have been trying to stake our claim on any unoccupied space we can. The hospital is currently working on a Master Sites Facility Plan, which is going to include some additional treatment space for us, which we are very excited for!”

Even though the department has grown substantially over the past two years, there are still several employees that have 15-20 plus years of service at CCMH.

“Our space may be a little small at the moment, but it’s the people who make the difference,” Grider said. “It is an honor and a privilege to work with this truly outstanding Rehab team, and we are also deeply thankful that CCMH is so supportive in providing a great environment for us to work in.”

A portion of the department’s growth has been organic with increased demand driven by the number of aging Baby Boomers, combined with the fact that life expectancy has risen over the years. Also, people are more informed about their own health and wellness with the invention of the internet. Subsequently, this causes more patients to request therapy services to treat a multitude of problems that once were just accepted as something you just have to put up with as a reward for living longer.

“We have the most fun-loving Rehabilitation Services staff that you will ever meet,” Thoreson said.  “They genuinely enjoy each other’s company, and their diverse niches allow them to consult with one another as it relates to techniques such as dry needling to balance therapy to urinary incontinence interventions to address a wide variety of patient issues and conditions.”

Before the advancement of technology in the medical field, doctors wouldn’t entertain the idea of joint replacements once a person reached a certain age. Now, surgeries are being done into the age of 80s and even above. People are also finding out that there are other options beyond wearing incontinence pads with pelvic floor therapy.

In the younger population, there has been a shift toward  injury prevention by  screening for muscle imbalances  or  weakness,  which could lead to problems.  With the  increase in managed Medicare plans and insurance  dictating that people leave the hospital earlier, Rehabilitation Services are seeing patients  who are sicker or weaker than ever before,  and  they need more time  in rehab  to regain their prior level of functional independence. These are  just  some of the reasons that the  demand for rehabilitation professionals is predicted to continue to grow  in the future.

“I believe that what makes CCMH Rehab special is the individualized and compassionate care provided to each patient, with one-on-one attention given for the entire treatment session,” Grider said. “One can rest assured that the therapist is going to do everything she or he can to help the patient and will collaborate with the rest of the team as needed. So really when you have one of us, you have us all.”

For more information about the services at Carroll County Memorial Hospital, visit http://www.carrollcountyhospital.org or call 660-542-1695.