Taylor Payne believes older adults are often capable of more than people expect.
As a physical therapist at Vivie and a board-certified geriatric clinical specialist, Taylor sees the benefits of challenging the people she works with. That can mean adding resistance to an exercise, building endurance, or encouraging someone to keep working toward a task that has become difficult.
“I think our older adult clients can do a lot more than we often expect that they can do, and they want to be able to do those things,” Taylor says.
For Taylor, that belief is closely tied to independence. Building strength and stamina can help an older adult continue getting out of a chair without assistance, walking through their home, or doing other things for themselves.
“These are the things that keep people independent and are tasks they need to do in order to maintain their quality of life,” she says.
Taylor became interested in physical therapy early. While in high school, she shadowed people in several occupations, including a physical therapist.
“It just kind of clicked,” she says. “I like that you’re able to spend an extended amount of time with the patients that you see, really get to know them and what their goals and hopes are, and what they want to get out of the therapy.”
Taylor earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical science from St. Cloud State University and a doctorate in physical therapy from St. Catherine University. After working in transitional care for several years, she joined Vivie about five years ago.
She had already discovered during physical therapy school that working with older adults was where she wanted to focus her career.
“I think in geriatrics you kind of have to be a jack of all trades,” Taylor says. “You have to be able to use your orthopedic background, you have to be able to use your neuro background, cardiovascular, and combine everything together in order to treat the whole person.”
The results can have an immediate effect on someone’s daily life. Taylor has heard from family members who were excited that a loved one could once again walk through a grocery store, get in and out of a car, or manage the steps into a family member’s home.
Knowing how to challenge someone begins with understanding who they are.
Taylor asks about the person’s goals and needs, but she also wants to know about their life. What did they do for work? What did exercise look like for them in the past? What are they likely to enjoy enough to participate in?
“So it really starts with getting to know your client well, and then you can build on anything from there,” she says.
Sometimes those details find their way directly into a therapy session. If Taylor learns that someone used to enjoy dancing to polka music, for example, she might play polka music during therapy.
They may also be the first to recognize progress.
A person might not notice that their balance has improved, Taylor explains, while a daughter notices that they are shuffling less when they walk or having fewer falls. Taylor can also repeat assessments throughout therapy to show changes in strength, balance, or endurance that may be difficult for someone to recognize day to day.
Taylor provides physical therapy in Vivie senior living communities and works alongside Vivie’s home health care teams. Depending on where someone receives care, that collaboration can include occupational and speech therapists, nurses, home health aides, and team members within a senior living community.
That coordination can help identify changes before they become bigger concerns.
“If we start to notice someone is losing their balance more but hasn’t actually fallen, if we’re able to get therapy in sooner, are we able to prevent a fall that maybe would have resulted in a broken hip or a head injury?” Taylor says.
Within Vivie communities, Taylor meets regularly with other team members to discuss the people she’s serving and residents who may be showing signs of decline. The approach gives team members different opportunities to notice changes and share what they are seeing.
It also supports a goal Taylor returns to throughout her work: helping people continue doing as much for themselves as they safely can.
Progress in physical therapy looks different for every person. For someone recovering from an illness, injury, or other setback, Taylor may begin by adapting how they do a task, making small changes to their home environment, or starting slowly and working toward more challenging activities.
Then she gets to see what changes.
“That has to be the favorite part of my job, reassessing throughout and seeing the progress that a person has made,” Taylor says. “Whether that’s their pain levels have decreased, they’re able to get out of a chair without help now, or they are able to walk across their apartment without losing their balance.”
Taylor’s own role at Vivie has continued to grow as well. In addition to patient care, she now serves as a PT liaison, providing staff education and working with Vivie’s education and quality teams. She says team members are encouraged to pursue professional development they can bring back to the people they serve and serve alongside.
For Taylor, however, the most rewarding part of the work still comes back to the individual in front of her and what therapy can help them regain.
“Helping someone regain what they’ve lost is my favorite part of what we do around here,” she says.
Learn more about rehabilitation services at Vivie and the ways physical, occupational, and speech therapy can help you or a loved one maintain strength, function, and independence.