Transitions Rehabilitation @Smoky Ridge Health & Rehabilitation Burnsville, NC
Kathy Church
Director of Rehabilitation
Kathy Church, PTA, Rehab Director for Deer Park Health & Rehab, and Smoky Ridge Health & Rehab, employed in these buildings since 2003.
She has experience in a variety of settings including skilled nursing facilities- long term and short term rehab, hospital, inpatient, outpatient, and orthopedics.
Clinical management of patients with weakness and deconditioning associated with multiple health co-morbidities such as COPD, diabetes, and CHF, Parkinson’s, Stroke, Fall Prevention, Kinesiotaping, and pain management-acute and chronic.
She truly loves seeing the progress/outcomes patients make, and helping them be able to go back to the things they love!
Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, and all their furbabies. Also, with family and friends she likes horseback riding, camping, kayaking, boating, and, traveling.
Teresa Honeycutt
Director of Rehabilitation
Teresa is the Assistant Director of Rehabilitation at Smoky Ridge Health and Rehabilitation. She has been an employee with Smoky Ridge for over 12 years. She has experience with EMS training, CPR, and is AED and Narcan Certified. She is a lifelong lover of animals and loves spending time with her 6 grandchildren outside on their farm. She is married and has one daughter, one son, and two step daughters. She enjoys spending her time off camping, fishing, and riding bicycles with her family.
Angela Smith Occupational Therapist
Practicing for 15 years as an Occupational Therapist
Masters in Occupational Therapy from Boston University, Boston, MA. 9/25/2009
BS in Occupational Therapy from Lenoir-Rhyne Collage, Hickory, NC. 5/8/2004.
Specialized Certified Lymphedema Therapist:
• Specializes in breast Cancer and Upper Extremity Lymphedema and Pain Management, Head and Neck Lymphedema, Kinesiotaping for Lymphedema Management and Axillary Web Syndrome. Lymphedema of the lower extremities and abdominal edema. Certified to custom design and fit for compression garments for day, night, travel and head and neck garments. Have worked with surgeons on preparing the patient with lymphedema prevention prior to surgery with garments, measurements, and education. Work with multiple vendors to aid patients in the set-up of Pneumatic Compression Devices. Worked with surgeons with Post-Mastectomy/Lumpectomy Pain Management Program to decrease contractures, frozen shoulder, loss of arm use…
Accredited Therapist in Dolphin Neurostim Microcurrent Point Stimulation Therapy, An all natural drug-free pain relief, for the treatment of:
• Relieve Chronic and Acute Pain
• Relaxes Muscles
• Releases Fascia
• Releases Scars
• Increases ROM
• Decreases Nervous Tension
• Reduce Stress
• Regulate the Autonomic Nervous System
• Improves Circulation
• Accelerate Cellular Healing
• Duplicates AcupunctureSpecialized in Post-Offer Pre-Employment Testing, Training through Roy Matheson Education and Training Solutions, An important clinical-service bridge to employers as an injury prevention service.
• Trained to Perform Essential Function Job Analysis of Employees
• Trained to Set-up and Perform Post-Offer Pre-Employment Testing
Specialized in Level I & Level II Hippo-therapy, use of horses as a modality for therapeutic or rehabilitative treatment, especially as a means of improving coordination, balance, sensory, and strength.
Certified PATH Therapeutic Riding Instructor for emotionally and physically disabled using horses.
Areas of Clinical Expertise:
• Lymph edema
• Lymph edema Prevention Education prior to cancer treatment
• Post-Mastectomy/Lumpectomy Pain Management Program
• Hand Therapy
• Stroke
• Splinting the hand and UE
• Lymphedema Aquatic Therapy
• Aquatic Therapy
• Wheelchair Positioning
• Fall Prevention
• Parkinson’s
• Axillary Web Syndrome
• Manual Lymphatic Drainage
• Instrument Assisted STM
• Kinesiotaping for Edema
• Orthopedics
• Pediatrics
• Feeding & Swallowing
• Adults with physical Disabilities
• Hippotherapy & Therapeutic Riding
• Adaptive Equipment Training for Orthopedics
• Yoga for Lymphedema
• Yoga for Geriatrics
• Yoga Graded for Physical Rehabilitation
• Clinical management of the patient with weakness and deconditioning associated with multiple health co-morbidities such as COPD, diabetes, and CHF.
William Gaske
Licensed Occupational Therapist
William Gaske is a licensed Occupational Therapist and has been working as a professional OT since 2015. He graduated from University of Saint Augustine with a Master’s in Occupational Therapy. He has worked in long term care and with the geriatric population for 4 years now. He looks to continue to his role as a therapist and make a positive impact on people’s lives. William Gaske resides in Asheville, NC with his girlfriend and two children.
Jennifer Givens, MS, CCC-SLP
Native to the Pennsylvania end of the Appalachian Mountains, Jennifer grew up in a small college town in the middle of the corn fields of Central Illinois. After graduating from Eastern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Arts in Theater and a minor in Business Administration, she relocated to the suburbs of Chicago where she lived for 8 years. She was working for a commercial real estate company in the Sears Tower in downtown Chicago when the tragedy of 9-11-01 occurred. The changes afterwards encouraged her to follow her dream of moving to Asheville, North Carolina, her favorite “little big city” in April of 2002…
Jennifer enjoyed working as a realtor for Beverly-Hanks for 8 years until the Recession began to negatively affect the local market. After a time of struggle and contemplation, she decided to go back to school at 38 years of age and pursue a Master’s Degree to become a Speech-Language Pathologist. She graduated in December of 2014 and was hired at Smoky Ridge (named “Brookside” at that time) in February of 2015 and has enjoyed working with patients at our facility ever since.
Jennifer’s passion for continual self-improvement and education are reflected in her work as she continues to research the latest treatment techniques and advancements in geriatric care. Her philosophy of patient-centric treatment begins with standardized and subjective measures to advise the patient of areas of opportunity for improvement in their swallowing, cognition/memory, language skills, voice, and speech; then work with them to create goals and a plan of action to optimize their quality of life. She is certified in VitalStim, PENS (Patterned Electrical Neuromuscular Stimulation), and sEMG (surface Electromyography). She has completed additional education in advanced biomechanical voice therapy, non-pharmacological strategies to manage sundowner behaviors, dysphagia in the presence of reflux disease, cervical spine disorders, head/neck cancer and cardiopulmonary disease.
Outside of work, Jennifer enjoys kayak paddling on the French Broad River, hiking, gardening, shooting archery, playing games and spending time with her 90-pound dog, Rufus, and her life-partners at their home in Asheville. She is divorced but still maintains a very close relationship with her step-son, who joins her in activities in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), an international educational non-profit group that researches and recreates the best of pre-1700’s history. She is also proud of her step-daughter, who is married and serving in the Air Force in Dover, DE.
Libby Buchanan, PT
Libby has worked in a variety of setting including skilled nursing care, acute care hospital, pediatrics, outpatient orthopedics and home health. She graduated from university of Tennessee, Memphis with her degree in physical therapy in 1996. She has over 20 years of experience working with the geriatrics population and has a passion for helping patients restore their mobility in order to live and independent lifestyle and to be able to do what they love. Libby is married with two daughters and enjoys reading, music, traveling, and going to the lake with her family.
Kathryn Lambert, OT
Kathryn is a part time Occupational Therapist here at Smoky Ridge. She lives in Asheville and works at 5 other facilities in that area, so she stays very busy. Kathryn earned her Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) degree from University of Toledo in Ohio in 2017 and has worked in Skilled Nursing Facilities since then. She was drawn to the profession because of OT’s unique approach to rehabilitation with function-based and sometimes creative treatment approaches. As a very independent person herself, she truly enjoys being part of a team that helps enable independence for others. Kathryn enjoys riding her motorcycle, hiking, traveling to new places, writing post cards, goofing off and being outside. Her motto is work hard, play hard.
Olivia Barnett
Olivia is a full time employee at Smoky Ridge Health and Rehabilitation in her home town of Burnsville, NC. She is a 2015 alumni of South College – Asheville. After college she moved to Eastern Tennessee to work in an outpatient facility working mainly with special needs children and workers compensation patients. Olivia is certified for I-digit and I-limb from Touch Bionics, which is a provider of world leading prosthetic technologies and support services for individuals with upper limb deficiencies. In 2018, Olivia returned to her home town to help rehabilitate members of the community that helped raise her. In her free time Olivia enjoys working with her succulents and spending time with friends and family.
Suzan Delfosse, PTA
Suzan Delfosse , PTA with 26 years of experience at skilled nursing facilities. She has a sunny disposition and is always kind to animals.