Meet the 2023 Home Health Award RecipientsThe following recipients were nominated by various members of the Academy, and were selected based on the outlined criteria below by the executive committee of APTA Home Health. These Home Health Awards were presented to recipients at the APTA Home Health business meeting on Friday, February 24, 2023. President’s AwardRecognizes an APTA Home Health member who has provided notable service to the Academy. ![]() Chris received his Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology in 1994 from Grove City College in western Pennsylvania. In 1997, he earned his Master of Science in Physical Therapy from Slippery Rock University in the same region of Pennsylvania. Immediately following graduation, he accepted a position with Novacare Outpatient Rehabilitation in Crowley, Louisiana where he spent two years treating a variety of patients across a wide age span. After meeting his wife who is also a P.T., they decided to relocate closer to home in the northeast to raise their family. He joined HCR Home Care in Rochester, New York in 1999 as a staff home health care Physical Therapist. In August 2002, he received a promotion to Therapeutic Services Program Manager, and in May of 2006, was appointed Director of Therapeutic Services. His goal has always been to foster a culture of professional development with our organization, with a particular focus on best practice and skill development opportunities. As a leader, his intent is always to promote autonomy, job satisfaction, and individual success. His research interests lie in the area of home health care practice, with a particular focus on using evidence to drive successful outcomes. He has conducted a number of studies throughout his career across a variety of special interest areas including falls prevention, Parkinson’s Disease management, pain management, sepsis screening, and total knee replacement rehabilitation. Chris has presented on various research topics at both regional and national conferences. In his personal time, he enjoys spending time with his wife Kelly, their 16 year-old son Brady, and their 14 year-old daughter Allie. His interests include physical fitness, fishing, boating, skiing, and gardening.
Excellence in Home Health Leadership AwardRecognizes the exceptional contribution of an APTA Home Health member in promoting home health physical therapy practice. Dr. Ganson has been an active member of the IPTA-Illinois Physical Therapy Association and APTA-American Physical Therapy Association on a local and national basis since 1995. She has seen our profession change and grow as the health care industry has changed. She is an enthusiastic and focused professional with a strong-drive to learn and succeed. She is a professional with empathy and compassion for others. She has had the opportunity to work in the acute care, outpatient, neurology, acute inpatient rehab, orthopedic and home health settings since graduating from Physical Therapy school. Dr. Ganson has been in her current role as a clinician and management for the last 20 years. She strives to live out her philosophy of servant leadership as she helps colleagues identify their strengths and find ways, they can use them well in their role within the hospital setting they work. In 2018, she began undergoing LAMP certification through HPA-Health Policy and Administration the Catalyst Section of the APTA. She successfully completed the standardized and evidence-based curriculum in Leadership Development. She completed the ACHH-Advanced Competency in Home Health through APTA Home Health on March 6, 2018-March 31, 2023. She recently renewed her ACHH certification by taking the relevant advanced competency education required. She believes this has helped keep her clinical skills current and practicing at the highest level of her PT licensure within the Home Health setting. Dr. Ganson became an Illinois Homecare & Hospice Council (IHHC) member in 2002 and an IHHC Board Member in 2020, an IHHC Western District Director, and an IHHC Co-Chair of the Rehab. Committee. She was recognized at one of the annual IHHC Conferences as a top responder to advocacy in the state of Illinois for IHHC. She has assisted for the last several years on the IHHC Rehab Committee and helped to develop an Annual Rehab Symposium for therapists and a whole re-boot for the Rehab Committee within the IHHC. Dr. Ganson has brought the former APTA HH Section President, Cindy Krafft, PT whose has spoken nationally, and to CMS, to present at the Rehab Symposium, as well as, at the Annual IHHC Conference to try to help advocate for our profession by giving our therapist the most current and relevant subject matter from a national known speaker about the physical therapy profession. Dr. Ganson received her Executive Master’s in Business Administration in Leadership from Bradley University Foster College of Business Administration in 2004. She is a Credential Clinical Instructor through the APTA since 2012. She takes DPT and PTA students annually from various colleges and universities throughout Illinois and the surrounding states. She has attended numerous Illinois Critical Access Hospital Networking (ICAHN) Conferences and Ancillary Meetings since 2002 constantly advocating for the physical therapy profession, Home Health and our Home Health therapists. She has attended our National Association of Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) Annual Conference to seek out the most current and up to date information to share with my Rehabilitation Services Department team members in regards to Review Choice Demonstration-RCD, Pre-Claim Review-PCR, Patient Driven Groupings Model-PDGM, and now Value-Based Purchasing-VBP. Remember, she lives in Illinois. Assisted ICAHN and IHHC since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with a webinar and a lunch and learn on reviewing the most current and up-to-date literature and research at the time on Assessing and Treating Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection related to fatigue. The topic included summarizing the current clinical guidance, discussing the role of the physical therapy provider along with a multidisciplinary collaborative approach with PASC fatigue treatment, and discussing the future directions in assessing and treating PASC-related fatigue and cognitive issues. Dr. Ganson is also currently assisting ICAHN with recent educational activities regarding (PASC)-Post Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 COVID Long Haulers and as an ICAHN Recovery Program Committee member. Several of the committee members were tasked with coming up with a list of questions for our providers. They are working on an educational activity for providers in our rural Critical Access Hospital-CAH (possibly after the new year). They are wanting to get some baseline information from the providers to see what all they may need. Many of the ICAHN Recovery Program Committee members were going to gather the list of questions to share and get them out to our local CEO’s and providers who can share with medical staff in the Illinois Rural Community Care Organization-IRRCO hospitals. IRRCO is a group of physicians, hospitals, and clinics who voluntarily work together with Medicare to provide high-quality of services and care through the Medicare Shared Savings Program-MSSP.
Excellence in Home Health Clinical PracticeRecognizes a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant for outstanding clinical practice in a home health care setting.
Practicing in Senior Living settings, Silke has focused her training on Parkinsons Disease, Training of the Older Adult and Community and Family education. She enjoys working in her client's home and being part of the solution for them to stay and age in place with dignity by collaborating with the client, the family and the community. Over the last few years she obtained her Proficiency from the APTA Geriatric Section. She enjoys learning new information and concepts, passing on and sharing education, knowledge and training to her clients, their families and to teammates. The constantly newly obtained information and published research in Physical Therapy keeps Silke engaged and curious, and constantly incorporating new facts in her treatment approaches. In her spare time, Silke enjoys hiking and backpacking with her husband and cooking meals for her friends. |