Dr. Parag Shah Discusses Stroke Rehabilitation

Dec 1, 2020

Medical Reviewer: Parag Shah, MD, MBA, FACHE

Last Updated: January 11, 2023

Video Transcript

Hi, my name is Dr. Shah. I am the Stroke Medical Director at Brooks Rehabilitation and I oversee the Stroke Rehab Program.

I always wanted to be a physician and I had two ACL injuries while I was growing up, so it was natural for me to pursue a career in rehabilitation medicine. And during my own rehabilitation, I recognized how great of an impact it had on me making me the person who I am today.

When choosing rehabilitation, it’s important that when you’re in the acute care hospital setting, that you kind of look at your different options, because this is really what’s going to jumpstart your rehab and recovery. So, getting patients into the right care setting, making sure they have a great rehabilitation team, can really have a tremendous impact on how well a patient does, how successful the rehabilitation plan is and, long-term, how happy they are. Usually, we’re seeing the left-brain stroke can be more challenging for patients because of the difficulty with communication and that’s where we have to work more closely with these patients to help them recover from that challenge that they’re going through.

Our stroke and cardiac unit is about 60 beds. That’s going to be larger than most of your stroke units across the country. So then, we’re able to have more expertise, our therapists, case management, nursing staff – this is what we do every day. We’re also dedicated, so patient comes first. So, at Brooks Rehab, what we started to do is a hybrid program, so in the afternoons and weekend, patients can go downstairs to our hybrid program, where they get extra rehab – outside of their normal three hours a day. And we’ve seen that this has had great benefits for patients who are interested in doing extra rehabilitation and working with our team, making sure that patients are appropriate and safe has really had a tremendous impact on our patients.

I think some of the cool things that we’ve seen recently is the technological advances, providing electrical stimulation to patients to help with return of function, for example, in their right arm or right leg – it feels weak after a stroke. Or sometimes we can this electrical stimulation to help patients recover swallow function. So, it’s been pretty exciting to see.

Our goal is to be world-class, so we want to be, you know, second to none.

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Medical Reviewer

Parag Shah, MD, MBA, FACHE

Medical Director of Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital – Bartram Campus, Medical Director of Data Solutions

Dr. Parag Shah has focused on providing care to patients with complex conditions–ranging from neurological injuries to injuries that require cardiac and transplant rehabilitation–since 2016. He received his medical degree from St. George’s University in 2012, completed his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at Wayne State University and earned his board certification in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation in 2016. He also holds a Masters of Business Administration from Wayne State University. Dr. Shah is passionate about working with patients and families to guide them through the rehabilitation continuum of care. In addition to his work with patients, he also enjoys research, education and mentoring Residents and Fellows who are completing their medical training. Dr. Shah resides in Jacksonville, Florida with his wife and two kids. Following years of medical training, he is thrilled to be close to his friends and family again in his home state of Florida.