Impact
My father in September of 2020 fell fracturing his lower leg close to the ankle while working in his kitchen at home. This began a drastic decline in strength and mobility causing my father to lose hope in his ability to ever regain his independence. A loss of mobility is devastating to say the least for anyone at any age.
As an Intel employee of over 20 years, my company has a wonderful benefit package that allowed me to travel back to my hometown of Carlsbad New Mexico to act as a care taker for my father. This benefit allowed up to eight weeks paid family medical leave to assist my father in his recovery. At the time of my father’s first fall injury, he had just turned 82 years old. His strength at this age was already reduced, but now with a broken leg, muscle atrophy set in very quickly. As his care taker, I was there to lift most of his body weight each time he needed to transfer from his wheelchair. Transferring from his wheelchair became more problematic as his body was going through the healing process. I even remember his orthopedist showing me x-rays of his lower leg at follow up visits. X-rays revealed that his bone was healing, but at the same time you could visually see a reduction in bone density. After a period of 8 weeks, my dad went through months of physical therapy never to fully regain the same level of mobility. When he did walk, it was necessary for him to use a walker. His balance was just not the same and dad would often fall even after months of physical therapy. My sister and brother-in-law lived about 10 minutes from my parent’s home. Many occasions my brother-in-law would go over in the middle of the night to lift dad from the floor. Everyone in the family knew that eventually he may suffer a far worse injury if he didn’t get some type of assisted living. My father was not going to have anyone help him though, he was still determined to be independent. He worked for over 40 years in the Potash mines within their laboratory as a chemist working his way up to Chief Chemist. His home that he had built was everything and he was determined not to leave. Can’t say I blame him, earning a living and paying off a home takes years and is quite the accomplishment.
Almost exactly one year later September 9th of 2021 our fear came true. Dad awoke in the middle of the night and needed to use the bathroom. He tapped mom on her shoulder until she awoke. Mom looked over and asked if everything was alright. Dad replied and said that he needed the restroom. So, mom got up to help him sit up and turn his body to seat himself at edge of the bed. This was a regular routine as she always did so many times night after night. Dad reached out and got ahold of his walker, stood up and his knees buckled underneath him folding one leg on top of the other in a crossed position. When he fell in this position my mother heard bones break in his legs. Dad yelled out in pain and mom rushed to the phone calling for help. This began an even longer recovery process compared to the prior year. His injury this time was very severe. He was taken into surgery where doctors reconstructed his left leg using a plate that ran from his knee all the down to his ankle. His fall had broken his left leg again in many places including detaching his artificial knee at its base. This was during the time of COVID so receiving care was in no way easy. Dad laid in a hospital bed for weeks and then was eventually transferred to a rehabilitation facility in Albuquerque NM. He received physical therapy in Albuquerque for about six weeks at this facility.
When the facility in Albuquerque released him, I brought him and my mother to live with my wife and I in Oregon. In my home I scrambled to schedule his medical appointments locating doctors to take over his medical care. My parents had planned to one day return to their New Mexico home, but I knew that unless dad’s mobility improved, this would not be possible. For weeks my dad and I traveled from one appointment to the next getting him lined up with a doctor to manage his heart, a primary to monitor his diabetes. Of course, an Orthopedist to handle his leg injury recovery with physical therapy. It was when we met the Orthopedist that opened a new door for dad’s health. I had searched for some time online hoping to find the best Orthopedist I possibly could. I came across the most unfamiliar name I had ever heard. Dr. Paul Puziss in Beaverton, Oregon. I said to my dad, this guy has great reviews but don’t ask me how to say his last name properly. Dad chuckled and gave me the go ahead to make an appointment to see Dr. Puziss. Dad was impressed with Dr. Puziss from the first visit. He assigned dad to physical therapy and followed up on him for a few weeks. Dad gained a little strength, but still fought to gain a sense of balance. Without a wheelchair to move about the house, there was a real risk. One follow up visit with Dr. Puziss, dad mentioned that his overall balance was lacking. He explained that he could stand up, but then fall immediately after if there was no handrail to hold.
That day Dr. Puziss mentioned that he had a friend who designed a device to help people regain balance. I was given a phone number and instructed to call Colin and inquire about this device. Colin answered my call and set up a time to come out and demonstrate his device called S3 balance. Dad kept the S3 on a trial basis to see how it worked for him. Over the next few days, I noticed dad gained hope of standing again on his own without a walker. The S3 balance device was amazing, this device was far better than even physical training outside the home in my opinion. It brought my dad a sense of security that he wouldn’t fall. The ability to stop training when his body began to feel fatigued as well. He used the device sometimes several times a day, but his preferred time was at night when everyone else was off to bed. I remember looking over the handrail at night from our upstairs loft and watching my dad stand while hovering his hands over the rails of his S3 device. It had been so long since I had seen him stand and actually balance on his own. Unassisted he would train at his own pace. Dad began transferring from his wheelchair to his easy chair with more confidence than I had seen in months. He loved the S3 and kept the device as his own.
As a heart patient of 20 years, my dad had significant health problems including diabetes. Each time he fell with injury his health declined another notch. Our family believes that he would have benefited from an S3 balance device years ago to help with strength and mobility to prevent injury. Dad lived longer than average and survived 20 years after a triple bypass open heart surgery in 2002. The injuries from falls took the biggest toll on him in his later years. Dad passed away and went to his eternal home on May 25th 2022 at St Vincent hospital in Portland Oregon at 83, nearly 84 years old. I’m writing this testimony on what would have been his 84th birthday. I wholeheartedly believe that dad would have lived even longer without those fall injuries over the past two years. Each injury turned his world upside down and put tremendous physical strain on his body.
Our entire family is very grateful to Colin for working with dad and providing him with the S3 balance. Thank you for honoring dad Colin by donating his S3 balance device to veterans like my dad. Our hope is that others might prevent fall injuries by using the S3 balance device.
WHAT STAFF AND MANAGEMENT SAY
Morgan, our Director of Activities, says that she truly feels like S3 Balance is making a positive impact on our residents. She sees that S3 has helped them to regain their balance and is helping them get stronger.
Randy Patton (our Activities Director) and Kristy (with Select Rehabilitation) perform many different classes using the S3 balance program. I have spoken to several residents regarding the program. Our residents love the S3 balance program. Many have stated that it has helped tremendously with their balance and strengthening their core.
Here at The Bay Port, I refer to the S3 Balance device as a “Balance Buddy”! My program here consists of standing Tai Chi and Qi Gong Movements which are performed while utilizing the “Balance Buddy” (S3 Balance) equipment. Both exercises are personalized and are used to strengthen the resident’s core, upper and lower body. The extent of each movement is completely determined by the residents. They may stand the entire time; they may choose to sit for some or all the exercises; it is completely up to the participants. I remind them that my program is not a competition; they are to stretch and move in a range of motion that is appropriate for them. Some days they may stand for the whole session at other times they may prefer to sit until their joints and limbs feel more limber.
I also use the S3 Balance when playing standing coordination games like Corn Hole. I move the equipment near the board so that the resident can stabilize themselves while tossing bean bags to the other Corn Hole board. This allows residents to compete and still feel safe and balanced (kind of like the handrails used in a shower!).
I am so pleased that SRI has been able to provide my/our facility with S3 Balance. Having utilized S3, I can see how it has helped our residents feel and become more balanced and stable while interacting with their peers. I feel it would be remiss of a facility to not have S3 Balance available (again, like handrails in the shower!).
“Residents seem grateful to us for implementing S3 Balance. They seem happy to come over and happy to enjoy it. Some residents were fairly stable coming to the class but many were unstable, as they needed to have their eyes open with hands lightly touching and now all except for the most recent, all are exercising with eyes closed even with the (Tightrope exercise) which is one of the harder ones, they’re wobbling but what I would call a slight wobble as opposed to a moderate or extreme wobble (i.e., where they would tip sideways 6 inches or more and hold onto the railing to bring themselves up and then do that rapidly 2 or 3 times) and many were doing that. We have more residents doing the program now than at the beginning and we only have 4 devices, so when more people come at a time we stagger it so it all works out.”
“I am an RN, the Health Services Director at the Hearthstone at Murrayhill Retirement Community. I have been a nurse for 35 years, 22 of which working in retirement communities. The biggest struggle has been to prevent falls related to balance issues, whether caused by disease or just general weakness.
S3 Balance was introduced to us by Colin, a physical therapist passionate about balance and fall prevention. At first I was skeptical, but after a four-week trial the results proved me wrong. Our residents’ balance improved tremendously, in one case by over 400%. We were so impressed with the results that we decided to invest in our residents’ well-being and bought four devices.”
“I have been using S3 Balance with my residents daily for a little over a month. The amount of confidence and improvement in balance has been amazing. I highly recommend S3 balance as part of any retirement communities exercise program.”
“S3 Balance is the best thing to happen to Village at Keizer Ridge for our residents who’ve been having falls and/or are unsteady on their feet. We’ve seen measurable results and we’re seeing residents’ enthusiasm for participating every day with the equipment. The problem I have is push back from staff who’s supposed to supposed to be leading the program, and we have discussed at stand-up every morning, stating that this is a win-win: the residents get stronger, can do more things for themselves safely, which cuts down on staff time, which enables them to get on to the next resident… it’s a win-win. There’s an investment in the beginning, there has to be passionate involvement by the staff, but when you get through the initial investment period, it’s winning for everybody… not only the residents, but also the staff. The overall impression of residents has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.”
“The biggest benefit that I’ve found of the S3 Balance program is the reduction in fall risk and the strengthening of the leg muscles. People coming in have problems falling at their house and they come in here and do this exercise program and they feel more comfortable and more confident. We’ve had a resident go from a walker to a cane and she’s really excited about that. It’s just a great program that offers a lot of great things.”
“We are all aware of how important exercise and strengthening is for our residents. That being said, it is very difficult to take memory care residents to gyms, pools or outdoor exercise areas. It is also difficult to have large, bulky exercise equipment in our community that can be unsafe for residents to utilize and a huge hazard to store.
I was excited to try something new that the residents feel safe doing and has had noticeable benefits in their strength, balance and endurance. It takes up very little space and has been easy for our staff to move into place when we are using it. The residents have a stable frame to perform their exercises and feel successful when performing the exercise program. They look forward to participating in the exercise group and are learning the routines, they are even able to coach one another. It’s a pretty amazing thing to see residents with Alzheimer’s and dementia learning and improving!”
“Our residents have been doing the S3 Balance Class for 3 months now. I have seen great improvement both during the class as well as in their daily living.
During the class the residents really like working together as well as encouraging one another. Residents in both neighborhoods have become good friends based on their interactions during this class. It is very apparent which residents have been participating from the beginning. Their stance is stronger, and their muscle has memory kicked in. We are at the point where I, as the instructor, do not even have to tell them what exercise is next! This is a prime example of the fact that residents with dementia are still able to learn. We are stimulating their procedural memory. We have now added new exercises because the ones we have been doing are too easy for them. We even have the more experienced residents assist in leading the class to direct the beginners. This allows them to see their own peers doing the exercise and they become more confident and believe that they can do it themselves.”
“The S3 Balance program has been so beneficial to the residents in our community. Not only have I seen improvements with the exercises in class, but also just in their day to day activities. This class has become something that our residents look forward to every morning. They enjoy that the class has simple instruction and the apparatus makes them feel safe while attempting some of the exercises. The residents that participate in the class enjoy the strength they feel afterwards and are excited when we introduce new exercises. While instructing the joy and confidence from our residents is apparent in their smiling faces!”
“Residents enjoy having a new balance tool. It makes people feel safe while improving their balance skills. It has been a great addition in our fitness center.”
“The S3 is an unparalleled apparatus to safely work with clients who need balance training. I use it with a 90-year old cognitively impaired woman who has had dual hip replacements and we both feel completely safe and secure, as opposed to having to rely on multiple chairs. There is no comparison. The S3 also provides an opportunity to safely stretch various muscle groups. I highly recommend it.”
“We like that the device is portable enough to be taken into resident rooms, which is especially helpful when we are working under isolation precautions. The device significantly decreases the amount of assist from the therapist for sit-to-stand, and the design is great for accommodating patients with different body heights, from very small to tall. We also appreciate that we can attach exercise equipment like resistance bands to the S3 without interrupting the standing portion of the treatment session. We are using the S3 right now with a morbidly obese resident who was not able to stand with us for several months after a CVA and COVID-19. The results have been promising.”
“My Rehab team utilizes the S3 Balance system daily in our Skilled nursing setting working with Low level to Independent patients. The Balance system is so versatile and easy to use, making patients feel confident and safe when utilizing it. It is easy to transport and able to go to patient’s rooms who require Max A to set up and roll right under the bed to allow a small yet safe position when attempting WB tasks. As patients progress we are able to add increased weight shifting, UE movements and balance activities utilizing the added hooks for resistance exercises with use of thera-band. Patients have expressed feeling comfortable and confident using the Balance system and all the therapists on my team have found different ways to use and progress exercises for UE and LE activities. The system has allowed our patients to progress in a supervised setting to performing increased WB activities allowing the therapist to safely step away while higher level patients perform more dynamic tasks. I would recommend this equipment to be in every gym especially working within the geriatric community to allow patients to feel the confidence that comes with the set up.
“The S3 is a versatile and stable device for transfer training and dynamic standing balance training that is portable and easy to use. The therapists feel more confident stepping away from patients in the standing position due to the stability and wrap-around shape of the device which allows for greater treatment options. The patients also gain a sense of confidence with the device and report a reduction in their fear of falling.”
“I’ve found the S3 Balance useful, and have used it in the following ways:
I have used it for sit to stand transfer training in the room, which is particularly useful when the room is a preferable treatment location, such as when the patient needs low stimulation or may need quick access to bed or bathroom. The variety of hand techniques that can be used, such as pulling from the horizontal bar, has allowed for quicker progress with transfer and standing tasks.
I’ve used it for balance training in either the gym or the patient’s room. The device provides an easy way to give patients the support they need in order to progress balance challenges.”
“The S3 frame has been most helpful with allowing improved ability to stand and work on pre-gait/weight shifting exercises designed to assist with progression to dynamic functional activities and gait. I have found that patients who have difficulty standing and taking steps due to center of balance and weakness issues benefit the most. The frame is safe to use and people feel comfortable in it.”
“I really love the S3 for bedside sit to stand and stand for grooming tasks and transfer training and for stand level bilateral upper extremity exercise as it provides a stability they may not have otherwise. I wish it were either smaller or foldable to reduce space and to move easier ( difficult to get to some areas of the building and takes precious time to move affecting productivity) ”
“I’ve been using the S3 for balance challenges, such as those provided on the packet attached to it. Several patients who have difficulty with sit-to-stand I’ve also been using it so they can use more of a “pulling” method to stand. I haven’t been moving them into rooms so transport hasn’t been a real issue for me. Moving them around the gym is easy for the most part. My main difficulty with using them is with heavier transfers or with patients who need a knee block, as the front bar gets in my way.”
“Patients feel more comfortable trying challenging balance activities as do I as a therapist. I challenge patients more often and to a greater degree with S³.”
“Prior to having you come in and my boss recommending we try the S3 device I was hesitant because I didn’t want it to be a device that we were only able to use on a specific type of client or that we would get it, use it a few times, and then put it off to the side. However, I think it speaks volumes about your product that during the 30-day trial we used it daily and my therapists were insistent that they didn’t want to give it up.
I would say that I was impressed with the exercises and handouts you provided with the S3 balance tool. Observing my therapists, I think the most excitement and a really effective use of the device came with helping patients stand at the edge of the bed. Many times progression has been limited with bariatric residents and getting them to stand from their bed. This tool was easy to move so we could take it into a patient’s room to help with the progression of sit to stand transfers.
When working with patients in the therapy gym, the therapists and patients were willing to try harder more complex balance tasks with patients because both the patient and the therapist felt safe with the support of the S3 Balance device around.
I like to think of the machine as more ergonomic portable parallel bars. If treating a patient, I would use the S3 device over parallel bars for almost every activity. It really has so many uses and honestly when it comes to many long-term care settings, therapy departments have limited room and limited budgets, it is well worth the cost because of how versatile it is.”
“S3 Balance is a portable facilitative, gradable safety environment that allows for a greater range of gradable functionality improvement. I use it and a chair to simulate the bathroom environment, as it allows me to provide all the safety I want while allowing the patient to practice the coordinated movements needed to transfer to and from the toilet. I also use S3 Balance to improve balance aspects for improving lower body dressing functions and bathroom hygiene. Finally, I am also working on vestibular system improvement approaches using S3 Balance.”
“S3 Balance is helpful to use with patients when working on standing or sitting balance because it is very sturdy, making patients feel more secure. However, I believe patients should lean on the device to push themselves up as opposed to pull themselves up.”
“Able to complete higher-level activities with patients who have fear of falling while assisting others with transfer difficulties, i.e., less assistance from therapist. Patients told me they enjoyed using S3 Balance, feeling they could to more things than they thought they could. Patients who are a 2-person transfer can use this device with 1 therapist.”
“Best application for this facility is the unit’s portability for use in rooms and use for bariatric patients/wheelchairs!”
“S3 Balance increased patients’ confidence during balance activities”
“I love that I can take it to patient rooms!!”
“Great for providing extra support for bariatric patients. Easy transport to rooms.”