Letter to the Editor - Cheryl Ellisor

This letter is in response to a recent local article titled “Low Staff” to “No Staff” - Is ETMC Crockett Losing Experienced Staff?

There was a quote by Helen Dise which stated, “Physical therapy used to be a full-time service but has declined into a partial service. I’ve heard that they were hiring people, but I don’t know where that stands since I left.”

I am the physical therapist at ETMC Crockett. I am speaking for the Rehabilitation Department at ETMC Crockett. My name is Dr. Cheryl Ellisor, PT, DPT. I am a Doctor of Physical Therapy. I was employed here from July 1998-June 2009; and returned in August 2011. We had another PT – Nathan Sheppard - who also worked here several years. He resigned in June of 2011 due to his entire family moving out of the area relating to his wife’s employment. Patsy North PTA worked in this facility Feb 2001 – Feb 2011 and also returned in August 2011. During that brief period when there was not a single/individual full time PT/PTA in this facility (over the summer), ETMC corporate made sure to staff the in- and out- patient facilities with other PT’s and PTA’s from our satellite clinics. There was never a day left unstaffed and there was never a time where the PT/Rehab department was a “partial service.” What Ms. Dise may be referring to is that one change that was implemented was to decrease the acute care and ICU visits from 2x/day down to 1x/day, which is still within the guidelines of our contract with the hospital. This simplified the staffing between the 2 locations. The amount of time overall spent with the patients was still appropriate and according to their needs.

Currently the “PT” or better addressed as the “Rehab” department consists of : Dr. Cheryl Ellisor, PT, DPT with 21 years experience; Patsy North, PTA with 17 years experience; Kathy Curless, OT, CLT with 17 years experience; and an amazing office manager, Mary White with over 30 years experience. We can assure you that the residents of Houston County are well served by the therapy department.

We also noted several other erroneous statements in this article. We would like to encourage those persons directly affected by such statements to make your voice heard. There is no perfect system. There is no perfect administrator. There are no perfect doctors or clinicians. However, I do believe that we do the best that we can and we do care about the residents of Houston County. Thank you for your consideration.

Cheryl Ellisor, PT, DPT

Editor’s Note: The above mentioned article “Low Staff to No Staff - Is ETMC Crockett Losing Experienced Staff?” ran in another local publication, not in The Messenger.