Rehab Success Story: Peter Sanders and The Nathaniel Witherell
Peter Sanders on the golf course.
Stamford resident Peter Sanders has played sports for over six decades, and his sports injuries date nearly as far back. Sanders, 65, first injured his knees playing high school football. Then, as a young man right out of the army, he reinjured them on the basketball court. But that didn’t stop him. He turned to golf, where he not only excels, but also is president of ShotByShot.com, a subscription-based Web service he founded in 1989 that determines the strengths and weaknesses of a person’s golf game. In short, Sanders is having the time of his life!
That said, over the years even playing golf started causing him incredible pain in his knees. After complete knee replacement surgery on his right knee four years ago, Sanders opted to return home after his hospital stay and do rehab on an outpatient basis.
Peter Sanders (second from right) on the golf course before his second surgery.
Afterwards, he realized that not staying at a rehabilitation center was a big mistake. “It really was way too painful to do on my own,” Sanders recalls. So this past November, when he required surgery on his other knee, he knew he needed to find a rehab facility. “I wanted to get a jump start on my recovery and relieve my wife of the burden of taking care of me,” he says.
Sanders says his surgeon recommended three facilities, one of which was The Nathaniel Witherell. “When I called the Witherell, they were so nice and engaging,” he recalls. “They invited me to come for a tour, and while I was there they said they would reserve a room for me if I would commit. When I told them I wanted serious PT, they said enthusiastically, ‘We can do that!’ so I signed up.”
According to Sanders, Witherell staffers were true to their word. He checked in at noon on a Friday afternoon (his surgery was the previous Tuesday), and within ten minutes, Lorenzo Mastrangelo, a Witherell physical therapist, was there to escort him to physical therapy. “Lorenzo was very professional,” says Sanders. “I did physical therapy with him twice a day. We became friends and he made a huge difference in my recovery.”
As for the rest of his stay: “I really enjoyed everybody and the staff was tremendous. I was exposed to a long list of rehab care workers and they were friendly, top-notch, and absolutely professional,” he says.
Sanders was able to go home in a week’s time. He could walk without a cane the following week, and started a vigorous workout on the recumbent bike within three weeks of his release. “My goal is to be back playing golf on a trip I’ve planned to Barbados in February,” he says.
Nathaniel Witherell’s New Rehabilitation Center
Witherell’s recently renovated short-term Rehabilitation Center offers individuals recovering from joint replacement surgery, cardiac events, stroke, or other serious illness the latest in physical and occupational therapy − as well as speech and language pathology services. Licensed therapists provide short-term rehab patients with therapy up to seven days a week. Witherell’s new 4,000-square-foot Rehabilitation Center features:
- Defined suites for physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech and language pathology services
- Training rooms for activities of daily living: kitchen, laundry, and bathroom
- State-of-the-art therapy equipment
- Modalities, electronic stimulation therapy (e-stim), ultrasound
- Fine and gross motor movement activities
- Cutting edge testing and intervention for cognitive, speech, and language impairment
- 42 private rooms adjacent to the Center available for comfortable and complete recuperation
