Q&A: Meet RESTORE Director of Business Development, Mark Petty

Posted on March 24, 2022March 15, 2022 by Bonnie Tilley

Hey Mark. We are excited to introduce the newest member of the team to our users. Let's do it!

Q: What do you do at RESTORE-Skills and in what circumstances would I come to you for something?

A: I bring solutions to therapists and operators designed to maximize the patient experience and generate meaningful outcomes.

Q: What energizes you at work?

A. Meaningful interactions with customers, prospects and team members. I try to learn something new each day.

Q: Who has influenced you most when it comes to how you approach your work?

A. Many have, but if I had to select one, it would be Deb Bielek from Ensign Services. Her energy and passion was infectious from the first time I met her.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do when not at work?

A. Play poker.

Q. What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?

A. That I am a true introvert but often don’t come off that way!

Q: What’s something you recently saw that made you smile?

A. My kids every day - well most days….

Q: If you could snap your fingers and become an expert in something, what would it be?

A. Investing!

Well Mark, we sure are glad RESTORE invested in you. Thanks for helping us get to know you better. Have a question for Mark? Drop us a comment and we will get you an answer.

Q&A: Meet RESTORE Clinical Success Director, JaKaylah Joyner

Posted on March 22, 2022March 15, 2022 by Bonnie Tilley

Hello JaKaylah. We are so happy to have you on the RESTORE team. Let's introduce you to our users, so they can be happy too.

Q: What do you do at RESTORE-Skills and in what circumstances would I come to you for something?

A: I am a Clinical Success Director at RESTORE and my priority is to collaborate with healthcare professionals to: introduce a fun, skilled platform, provide clinical suggestions and creative ideas to inspire users as they navigate RESTORE. As a treating therapist by practice I have an immense passion for patient care and providing them with not only fun but also purposeful ways to overcome barriers and foster independence in their everyday lives.

Q: What led you to this career path?

A. I am a COTA/L by practice and I wanted to use my clinical knowledge and experience to provide a platform for treating clinicians that would help foster higher skilled outcomes for their patients.

Q: Who has influenced you most when it comes to how you approach your work?

A. My parents. They both work in the helping profession with a genuine desire to help people. We did not come from a wealthy family so they worked hard to get everything we have. They instilled in me core values when it comes to work ethic and how you should treat everyone with kindness and respect, no matter their title.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do when not at work?

A. I love watching cooking shows and trying new recipes.

Q. What’s the best advice you were ever given? Who was it from?

A. My mother always told me that the ability to be educated is a privilege and for me to make sure that I take every opportunity to learn because people can take a lot from you in this world, but they can never take your knowledge.

Q: If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?

A. I think my superpower would be time traveling.

Q: If you could only eat one food item for the rest of your life, what would it be?

A. Potatoes! I love potatoes in any kind of way (fries, scalloped, baked, tater tots, chips). I love it all.

And we love you! Thanks so much for sharing with us JaKaylah. Have a question for JaKaylah? Drop a comment below and we will get your question answered.

Q&A: Meet RESTORE Director of Customer Success Operations, Sarah Asad

Posted on March 17, 2022March 15, 2022 by Bonnie Tilley

Hey Sarah. You're the one who is helping us get organized around here and we appreciate you. Let's get this Q&A organized.

Q: What do you do at RESTORE-Skills and in what circumstances would I come to you for something?

A. At RESTORE I’ll be helping both the Customer Success and Sales teams be more efficient in their day-to-day jobs. While CS Ops is a relatively new field, and every company is doing stuff a little differently, my focus will be to maintain ChurnZero, update HubSpot, and handle the billing & invoices of our clients.

Q: What led you to this career path?

A. I enjoy analyzing information and developing solutions for other people's problems. Originally, I wanted to be a lawyer, but after some thought I realized that developing solutions, while building relationships was the right thing for me.

Q: What energizes you at work?

A. Getting to do new things, such as creating new processes. Also, the ability for growth and collaboration with other people. I really enjoy working with people from different teams, and hearing different perspectives.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do when not at work?

A. Reading a book, going for a walk, watching documentaries, sleeping.

Q. If you could only eat one food item for the rest of your life, what would it be?

A. Cheesy bread.

Q: What's one song/artist you are embarrassed to admit you like?

A. I love 90’s grunge music.

Q: What three words would your friends use to describe you?

A. Ambitious, Kind and Loyal.

After knowing you only a short time, the RESTORE team would agree with ambitious! Thanks for all you do Sarah. Have a question for Sarah? Drop us a comment and we will get you an answer.

Q&A: Meet RESTORE Social Media and Online Community Manager, Bonnie Tilley

Posted on March 15, 2022March 15, 2022 by Bonnie Tilley

Hey Bonnie. Why don't we get "social" and help our users to get to know you a little better?

Q: What do you do at RESTORE-Skills and in what circumstances would I come to you for something?

A: I am the Social Media and Online Community Manager for RESTORE. You would come to me for questions or help in our online community or if you had questions or feedback regarding any of our social media channels.

Q: What led you to this career path?

A. I love being social in real life, so it was a pretty easy transition. I enjoy getting to know people and social media is a great place to study people. Study, stalk, whatever. Plus I love humor and social media is a great place to both find and showcase humor.

Q: How do you prefer to start and end your day?

A. I prefer to start each day with a shower and I’m believing other people appreciate that about me. I love to end my day chatting with my daughter about her day.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do when not at work?

A. I love to volunteer at my church. I do everything from mentoring teens and young adults, to working on the tech team to teaching classes.

Q. If you could snap your fingers and become an expert in something, what would it be?

A. Spanish. I am great at Spanglish, but would love to be fluent with the language.

Q: What’s one totally irrational fear you have?

A. Clowns #dontjudgeme

Q: What three words would your friends use to describe you?

A. Creative, Empathetic and Hilarious. No, really... I texted several friends and asked.

Those three words sound like the perfect fit for RESTORE's social media. Thanks for sharing with us! Have a question for Bonnie? Drop us a comment and we will get you an answer.

Q&A: Meet RESTORE Regional Director of Business Development, Johanna Salomon

Posted on March 10, 2022March 15, 2022 by Bonnie Tilley

Hey Johanna. Thanks for agreeing to this Q&A, which helps our users learn about the RESTORE team. Let's go!

Q: What do you do at RESTORE-Skills and in what circumstances would I come to you for something?

A: I am a Director of Business Development at RESTORE. You can come to me with any questions about RESTORE, the myriad of ways a facility can benefit from its use, or if you’re interested in bringing RESTORE into your facilities.

Q: What led you to this career path?

A: I had a number of opportunities presented to me, but none that made me feel real excitement. When I looked at the RESTORE product I immediately thought of 5 things about it that were incredible and felt genuine enthusiasm for the opportunity and what I could do with it.

Q: How do you prefer to start and end your day?

A: With a lot of coffee, and a list. As soon as it’s “go-time” for my day, I open my notebook to review my notes from the day prior, then I flip to a fresh sheet of paper to start my new to-do list. I include calls & tasks, then leave my book open so I can add to it throughout the day.

Q: What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?

A: I am an avid gardener. When the weather is warm, there is always something blooming in my yard. I’m deep enough into it that I order special varieties of roses online because I need more variety than what the garden centers can offer.

Q: If you could only eat one food item for the rest of your life, what would it be?

A: Sushi or tacos.

Q: What's one song/artist you are embarrassed to admit you like?

A: I dressed up as a Spice Girl for Halloween, so I am impossible to embarrass.

Q: What energizes you at work?

A: My heart sings when I make a sale, but my biggest motivator is positive feedback from happy clients. I pride myself on my ability to develop great relationships with my clients and get their trust and respect, so positive feedback bolsters my confidence in that.

Q: If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?

A: Flight.

Speaking of that, we have to jet. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Johanna. Have a question for Johanna? Drop us a comment & we will get you an answer.

Q&A: Meet RESTORE Front End Developer, Josh Moyers

Posted on March 8, 2022March 15, 2022 by Bonnie Tilley

Hey Josh. Thanks for agreeing to give our RESTORE tribe a look into your life. Let's get started.

Q: What do you do at RESTORE-Skills and in what circumstances would I come to you for something?

A: I build and maintain user interfaces, handle accessibility concerns, and help come up with development standards and practices for streamlined development workflows. You could come to me with any questions or concerns when it comes to user accessibility, the visual elements of RESTORE, or any nerdy tech questions.

Q: What led you to this career path?

A: I got into development as a hobby in high school. Being able to write code and see it do something always seemed interesting to me. Once I figured out I could do that for a living it just sort of happened.

Q: Who has influenced you most when it comes to how you approach your work?

A: Probably a combination of my parents. They’ve always been hard workers, and have always mixed humor into their daily lives.

Q. What is your favorite thing to do when not at work?

A: I like tinkering with small electronics, building stuff around the house, and trying repeatedly (i.e. failing) to create music.

Q. What's something you recently saw that made you smile?

A: My daughter's first dance recital.

Q: What's one song/artist you are embarrassed to admit you like?

A: Fergalicious - Fergie (I know every word, and I guess I’m not embarrassed about it. It was my ringtone for several years.)

Q: What’s the worst job you’ve ever had, and what did you learn from it?

A: I don’t think I’ve ever had a “worst” job. I’ve worked fast food, as a stock boy at a grocery store, at marketing and promotional agencies, in retail corporations, and even spent some time in the Army. They’ve all had their ups & downs. I guess I’ve just learned to be adaptive and roll with the punches throughout all of it.

Q: What three words would your friends use to describe you?

A: Clever, Loyal and Tenacious

Wow! Well, we definitely need all three of those things here at RESTORE. Thanks for giving us some insight into your life. Have a question for Josh? Drop us a comment and we will get you an answer.

Q&A: Get to know Clinical Success Director, Jim Marlowe, COTA/L

Posted on January 11, 2022March 3, 2022 by Amanda Capone

What do you do at RESTORE-Skills and in what circumstances would I come to you for something?

As a therapist, I have always been passionate about providing the best possible experience for my patients. In my time spent in other roles such as business development, admissions, and management, I always had a focus on customer service and problem-solving. I joined the RESTORE-Skills Customer Success team because I know the best way to help serve the elders in our communities is to ensure that our partners have the knowledge and training to maximize our platform. I would have loved to have RESTORE as a therapist and am now in a role where I can make that a reality for others.

Who has influenced you most when it comes to how you approach your work?

My father. I grew up in a family auction business so I dealt with the public from a young age. He always taught me to treat the janitor with the same respect as the CEO. How important relationships and connections are in life.

What is your favorite thing to do when not at work?

We love to thrift and run a part-time reselling business. I also love to attend my sons’ games. My youngest (Landon) plays basketball, my middle son (Kameron) plays soccer and Esports, and my oldest (Nathan) is killing it in the Esports circuit. He started the program at his school.

If you could snap your fingers and become an expert in something, what would it be?

Home repairs. I am the classic Youtube repairman. I know just enough to be dangerous.

What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?

I am a state-licensed auctioneer (yes I can talk fast).

What led you to this career path?

It's really been a combination of my life experiences. I spent 10+ years in sales prior to going back to school to get my COTA license. I have always loved people and now I get to work on a product that directly benefits those same patients I treated in therapy.

What’s one song artist you are embarrassed to admit you like?

I don’t really get embarrassed by artists. My playlist has anything from George Jones to Tupac.

What’s one totally irrational fear you have?

Climbing ladders. I hate it.

Are you a dog person or a cat person (or neither)?

I have always been a cat person but do like dogs. Our greyhound Chase helped to convert me.

What’s changed you about the COVID-19 pandemic, and why?

I spent the last year and a half in a nursing facility and got to see how COVID affects residents firsthand. The isolation and uncertainty they experienced really opens your eyes to what's important. Family and good friends make all the difference.

Q&A: Group and Concurrent

Posted on July 20, 2021July 20, 2021 by Ian Oppel

Question:

How can we use RESTORE in the delivery of group and concurrent therapy?

Answer:

Great question. To start we have to understand the difference between group and concurrent therapy:

Group Therapy - One therapist/asst. providing treatment of 2-6 patients performing similar functional skill activities that are part of their plans of care regardless of payor source.
Concurrent Therapy - One therapist/assist. providing treatment to 2 patients simultaneously, who are performing different functional skill activities (per payor guidelines).

Next, let’s look at some of the potential benefits of these deliveries of care approaches:

Socialization - helps mitigate the risks of isolation/loneliness and promotes social interaction skills.

Patterning of Behavior - promotes the ability to learn from others. Players of similar or different functional ability levels can benefit from observing/demonstrating how to perform an activity that helps to improve their own performance outcomes.

Cooperation - the ability to work together towards a common goal can be rewarding and motivating. By working together, players can achieve outcomes they may never have realized individually.

Competition - many players are motivated by competition. They may in fact participate longer, move more, and engage more when there is an opportunity for a winning outcome.

FUN - the most important benefit is that skill-building with others is more enjoyable than skill-building alone.

RESTORE can be used in support of both group and concurrent therapy

Progress can be accelerated by combining socialization, patterning of behavior, and functional skill-building with immersive, interactive content (preferably person-centered based on the expressed interests of each player). Let’s consider the following:

2-6 patients (players) who share a common interest, such as casino gaming, and have therapy plan of care goals to increase activity tolerance (sitting or standing), upper extremity range of motion, coordination, and sustained attention would enjoy participating in a Jackpot, Plinko, or Bingo competition. Players can be in the same room and remain socially distanced while set up with a device with a webcam (laptop, tablet, iPad) and simultaneously address functional skills while performing a friendly competition or just trying to achieve personal bests. Players are able to encourage one another through social interaction, while additionally patterning behavior from other players to help them better achieve their personal desired skill-building outcomes.
2 players who may or may not share a common interest can each be set up with a device and the therapist can facilitate concurrent activities addressing desired functional skill-building with both players. A therapist may also choose to have both players participating on the same screen at the same time while working on different functional skills. For example, one player may be pulling the handle of a slot machine on the right side with his/her upper extremity while sitting and a second player may be pulling the handle on the opposite side of the slot machine with a squat or lower extremity while standing. Although the enjoyment of the same game is appreciated, each player is working on distinctly different functional skills concurrently.

Set up & selection options for the delivery of group and concurrent therapy

Group Play
- Scoring is recorded on a leaderboard. Players can attempt to beat their personal best score and even make their mark on the All-Time Leaderboard
- 2 Players - Cooperative
  - Best for grouping two players playing at the same time on the same screen requiring similar functional skill-building
  - Concurrent consideration in this mode is to have 2 players on the same screen at the same time requiring different functional skill-building
- 2 Players - Taking Turns
  - Best for grouping two players, taking turns to encourage each other, pattern behavior, and facilitate competitive motivation
- More than 2 Players - Taking Turns
  - Best for grouping more than two players, taking turns to encourage each other, pattern behavior, and facilitate competitive motivation

RESTORE Together
- Players from different devices compete in the same game, same setting competition to see who can achieve the top score.
- Private Game
  - Best for facilitating a group of 2 or more players in the same location on different devices who desire to experience interactive game play. Players compete with our default settings in a competition where players are able to see their place (who is in first, second, third, etc.) and scoring outcomes in real time
  - A therapist will create a private game on one device and assist players on different devices to access the private game via a unique code that is entered at app.restoreskills.com/together

Single Game
- Best for group treatment with the therapist providing each player a device and:
  - - Addressing the same functional skill-building with different games or individualized settings for the same games
- Best for concurrent treatment with the therapist providing each player a device and:
  - - Addressing different functional skill-building with different games or the same game but working on a different functional skill

Tournament Play

- This is created by the RESTORE team upon request. Play can be enhanced with the creation of a "same game" tournament or multi-game Olympic event-style competition. Events can occur within one location or across multiple locations simultaneously. An event can be created as a single day or multi-day event.

When players (patients) are having fun and engaged they focus less on targeted skills and more on the game. They have less anxiety or frustration when able to experience success, learn from one another, and feel a sense of accomplishment. Therapists are able to appropriately incorporate functional skill-building groups or concurrent treatment using RESTORE for more effective and efficient outcomes.

NEWS: RESTORE Skills featured on WINK-TV (CBS, Myers, FL)

Posted on May 25, 2021June 1, 2021 by Amanda Capone

RESTORE-Skills was featured on WINK News (Fort Myers, FL). Below is an excerpt from the segment featuring a patient & two staff members from Signature HealthCARE of Port Charlotte:

New virtual therapy technology used inside nursing homes is giving patients the care they need and giving them a way to have fun too.

Sally Connelly-Jones is a fighter. A survivor. She suffered a stroke. Beat it. Got COVID-19. Beat that too.

What’s next?

“I miss shopping,” Connelly said.

Jones lives at nursing home Signature HealthCARE Port Charlotte in Charlotte County.

Jones told us the loneliness has been almost as bad as her stroke.

“It was the stay in your room and not go out in the hall, not go outside and breathe some fresh air,” Jones said.

That stroke left her left side numb.

“I really hated therapy when I started because it wasn’t fun. It was very painful,” Jones said. “But you know, the more I work, the harder I got at it. And I said, you know, this is not going to say who I am. I’m going to dictate to it.”

What helped was new virtual technology. It looks and feels like a game, but it’s much more.

Check out the full news story HERE!

Q&A: Neuro-Rehab

Posted on May 3, 2021May 3, 2021 by Ian Oppel

May is Better Hearing & Speech Month & we're proud to support our dedicated therapist users. On a recent customer success support call, a speech-language pathologist asked if we could provide a marketing summary of the benefits of RESTORE when working with neuro-rehab patients.

How RESTORE can help clinicians accelerate and optimize outcomes with stroke and brain injury patients:

RESTORE-Skills’ therapeutic gamification platform comprehensively supports clinicians by targeting the functional deficits and underlying neurological impairments most commonly presented by stroke and brain injury patients. Using a laptop or mobile device, therapists can quickly access and customize over 200 games and activities targeting the physical, cognitive, and life-readiness skills necessary to accelerate and optimize clinical outcomes.

Patients move more, stand longer, and refuse treatment less by combining skill-building with fun activities based on their personal interests such as skiing in a world-cup race, pulling a slot machine handle, flying a plane, or practicing their medication management. Every game has settings that can be adjusted to ensure the player can experience success, even if it’s their first time video gaming. A patient’s family members and friends can be invited to remotely join a therapy session via a user-friendly, video-conferencing experience to see their loved one, offer encouragement, and add motivation by playing along all from the safety of their own home.

"I feel the games have helped me to improve the movement and coordination in my arm. I'm right-handed so it's important I regain as much as I can to get back to what I used to do. My favorite game is Plinko. I use my left hand to support my right arm in getting the chips to the top of the board. We had a tournament last week and I actually got the best score on one of the days. It was a lot of fun!"

Video games are most successful when they are easy to access, easy to learn, and easy to use.

The game must also be gradable, or adaptable to an individual’s ability. The more relatable and meaningful the games are to the individual, the more the patient is excited to use the program. When players (patients) are having fun & engaged they focus less on targeted skills and more on the game. RESTORE-Skills makes rehabilitation more fun, stretching patients’ abilities playfully and diverting their attention away from discomfort, anxiety, or frustration.