Winter 2021/22

Welcome to our posts for the Winter 2021/22 season. These entries are divided into three categories: Therapy, Day Program, and Community. Please click the on words for each section to jump to the corresponding section of posts.

Therapy

Tuesday, February 15th; Physical Therapy @ Sport’s Universe

Our Livingston Physical Therapy department teamed up with our enrichment department to take several of our athletically-driven clients to Sport’s Universe today for their skilled P.T. sessions. Physical therapy sessions promoted client goals of ambulation, balance, core strength, mobility, and coordination. This is a brand new outing that we are offering our physical therapy clients that will be coordinated once per month. We look forward to seeing our clients continue to progress in their physical therapy goals while also doing what they love.

Willie shoots some hoops.
Greg plays soccer with P.T., Kina.
Kevin shoots & scores
Our team for the afternoon
Kevin shows off his soccer skills

Wednesday, February 9th: Occupational Therapy Goes Bowling

Combining community integration and occupational therapy, the OT Team in Long Branch took our skilled services to the alley this week for a week of working towards our therapy goals, social goals, & our bowling game simultaneously.

Erle (OTS) working with Randy. Bowling can help with core strength, motor planning, balance, upper extremity strength, focus, & visual attention.
Randy, Mario, Paul, Erle, Juliette, & Michelle take a break

Wednesday, February 9th: Cognitive Therapy @ Board & Brush

Cognitive therapy sessions took place at the Board & Brush design studio in Livingston today. Bruce, Edwin, Jean, & Eric followed verbal and visual multiple-step directions to complete their masterpieces! All projects permitted our clients to have fun in the community while also receiving cognitive remediation strategies offered by our skilled therapists.

sand & prepare to assemble
stain wooden pieces
apply paint (coat #1)
remove vinyl stencils to reveal intended design
Post-Piece selection
All done!

Monday, January 17th:

Michelle practicing balance, strength, endurance, & coordination in occupational therapy. We are always so excited to provide therapy sessions that are meaningful to the client while also promoting skilled therapy goals.

December 16, 2021: Holiday Fun in O.T.!

Making our penguins
Diana & her penguin.
Joe planning his next step.
Diana & Joseph creating a winter craft in sensory art group with Alyson from OT. They made penguins using different textured items to stimulate their tactile senses and to work on their fine motor skills.

December, 2021: Happy Holidays!

Gingerbread making in speech therapy with Pedaiah & Deon
Patty & James show off their handmade holiday greeting cards.
Maria Lynn & Danielle create Christmas trees in speech therapy.

Happy Holidays from our therapy team! The month of December is always one of our favorite times of the year. We keep it festive around here with skilled therapy sessions that provide our clients with opportunities to focus on their clinical goals and the spirit of the holiday season simultaneously. We hope that you enjoy these photos…HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Community

Adaptive Ski Trip with NJ & PA Adapted Sports

It’s shred season at Universal! Our community program teamed up with NJ & PA Adapted Sports to give Greg (TBI Survivor) the opportunity to show off his skills as he learned how to use a Bi-Ski for the first time. We spent the day at Camelback Mountain Resort with two AMAZING certified adapted ski instructors. We even had fresh snow for some top-notch ski runs. We ended our day with some hot chocolate and chicken fingers; not sure if it gets any better than that! Shout out to Greg who did such an awesome job maneuvering the Bi-Ski & to our instructors. We will see you on the mountain again very soon!

Greg & his instructors on the ski lift
Greg & his Bi-Ski
Going for another round

Thursday, December 16th: Holiday Light Show at The Turtleback Zoo

Shawin & Jean loved the flamingo tree best.
Before our train ride
“These lights are magnificent!”-John
Wood-fired pizza with Bruce, John, Lauren, Jean, & Shawin
Happy Holidays! We had a fun-filled and festive evening at the annual Turtleback Zoo light show. We saw thousands of holiday lights and decorations…and some zoo animals too! We even got to go on a train ride around the zoo. After walking (and training!) around the light show, we sat down for some wood-fired pizza. Later, we finished off the night with hot chocolate. It was a wonderful evening that really got us into the holiday spirit.

Sunday, November 28th: New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles Game

Feeling excited after a big New York win
Our awesome view!
Joey & John at the New York Giant’s Game
We had the best day at the New York Giants game this past Sunday! We started our day with a tailgate filled with corn hole and hot coffees (it was cold!). Our seats inside of Metlife Stadium were amazing; we had a perfect view. John & Joey enjoyed stadium burgers, pulled pork, and of course the very necessary hot chocolate (extra whipped cream). We were on our feet for the entire game dancing and enjoying the enthusiastic ambiance. The Giants pulled off a win! We cannot wait until the next one.

Day Program

Friday, January 28th: National Have Fun at Work Day

We had the best time during our National Have Fun at Work Day celebration to end the month of January. We played “large” games in each of our day program spaces, as well as all wore our pajamas to work. What is a better way to have fun while on the job?!

Our Enrichment Team pre-party!
Jessica plays Connect-Four
Robert plays giant Jenga
Ryan plays Connect-Four

Friday, January 21st: Love Your Brain Yoga & Universal Begin a 6-Week Journey

Today we started a six week journey with Love Your Brain Yoga at our Long Branch day program. Sessions will each be 90-minute sessions that focus on healing, coping, acceptance, and loving our bodies and brains exactly as they are now. We are thrilled to offer this opportunity for our clients, and we are excited for the journey to come.

Friday, January 21st: National Be Healthy Day

We celebrated and promoted a healthy lifestyle this past Friday at UI Rehab in observance of National Be Healthy Day. Our clients were provided with fitness groups and activities that targeted moving around while also having a great time. All day long we offered heart-healthy activities, heart health-based discussion groups, and even client-led fitness videos.

John throws a ringer during our interactive ring toss game.
Jessica & Courtney smile as they weave in & out of our movement obstacle course.
Ryan works hard to maneuver through the obstacle course.
One of our TBI clients, Jenn D., a retired aerobics instructor, facilities a virtual fitness group with her peers.

January 14th: National Crazy Hat Day

Today we celebrated National Hat Day at UI Rehab with some crazy hats. We worked all week long during our program hours to ensure that each client had a fun hat to wear that matched their personalities & interests. Our activity specialists made sure that we had a fun day. We also had a Crazy Hat Contest with a mocktail hour cart that toured each of our day program spaces.

Chelsea and her hat (lots of stickers and feathers was her theme!)
Sip with his “poker” hat.
Cat Woman, Soup Lady, & Halloween hats
Group photo of our 1 Bryant house with their staff all festive and ready to celebrate!

December 17th: Christmas “Ugly Sweater” Party

Bryna came to the rehab dressed as an elf! Amazing!
Marlene wins “cutest” sweater.
James rocked a colorful Christmas sweater.
Danielle really played the part this year with her festive Christmas attire.
Molly is always festive.
Alex’s sweater was “out of this world.”
Chelsea’s llama sweater was another hit.
Long Branch friends even came for a visit. How fun, Bethany & David!
Team Ugly Sweater shows off all of their festive looks!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from UIRehab! We have been super busy celebrating and soaking in this holiday season with all of the festivity and fun. From cookie baking, to a band visiting us to play Christmas music, to a Gingerbread decorating contest, to our annual Holiday Bazaar where clients and staff can purchase Christmas gifts for loved ones, we have had a wonderful holiday season here at the day program. We even had our Long Branch facility join us for a special day with a live band. For more photos of what we have been up to this holiday season, please check out our Instagram page: @UI_Rehab. We wish everyone a healthy & safe holiday…and a Happy New Year to all!

December 10th & 11th: Cookie Baking Week at Day Program

It’s not the holiday season without cookie baking! We spent the last week at our Long Branch & Livingston day programs prepping, baking, and decorating holiday cookies with our special guest, Tiramisuzie. From choosing the type of cookie, to shopping for all of the ingredients, to baking and decorating…we have been very busy! We look forward to packaging up our cookies and donating them to client-chosen places later this week. We hope this post finds you enjoying the holiday season in every way!

Jessica creates the perfect Christmas tree cookie.
Ryan & special guest Tiramisuzie cutting the perfect holiday treat.
Arty rolls out his own cookie dough.
Amber said that the best part of her day was being able to eat the cookie.
Saturday’s cookie baking team hard at work.
Here are a few of our shapes & designs pre-icing,
We even made our own frosting!
Joe, Steven, & NaNa create the perfect batch.
AJ & Chuck testing the products
Long Branch & Livingston clients spent the whole day on Saturday baking cookies for some great causes.

Wednesday, December 8th: We are TRU!

“We want all of our visitors to know that we are a team. We are TRU.”-Jenn D., UI Livingston client

Sip using an adaptive cuff to type notes during his paid work shift.
Sean completes his clerical work.
John loves using the paper shredder

Right: Jenn, Charles, & Naty (a UI Activity Specialist) working together to create our custom wall located at the entrance of our vocational center. The letters were both designed and created by our clients and utilize a variety of creative materials.

Friday, December 10th: Hanukkah Celebration

Happy Hanukkah!

Our Long Branch facility celebrated the last day of Hanukkah with some very intense dreidel games.

Dave playing Dreidel at our Long Branch Day Program

Above: Michelle & AJ

Friday, November 19th

Today we celebrated Mickey Mouse’s birthday at UI Rehab in Livingston. What a special day! Following Disney karaoke and Disney arts & crafts, Mickey Mouse made a guest appearance to take photos with all who were interested. He even joined us as we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Pedaiah.

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