Ryan Sharrow says he's a clinician at heart.
As Vice President of Therapeutic Care and Research at CenterWell Home Health in Duluth, Minnesota, Mr. Sharrow's career in home health care spans nearly 20 years across the therapeutic industry. Although he hadn't worked one-on-one with patients in about five years, his love and respect for the work of clinicians and therapists has only grown over time.
As AVP of Therapeutic Care and Research, Sharrow oversees Safe Strides, CenterWell's largest specialty program focused on fall risk management. Sharrow said CenterWell has 4,500 therapists working in physical, occupational and speech therapy, and part of his job is to support all of them in everything from compliance, clinical quality and documentation to employee engagement.
“I like to solve problems, and I have the opportunity to solve a lot of problems,” Sharrow said. “I'm a clinician at heart, and while some of the things I end up doing from an administrative standpoint may not be as clinical as you might think…anytime I can support the clinicians and the patients they treat, that's the best part of my day, and that's the bulk of what I do every day, so I'm very lucky to have a role like this.”
In fact, when he got the role, he told his wife: “I just landed my dream job,'' said Sharrow, who focused on vestibular rehabilitation in graduate school, but Duluth's small metropolitan area meant he couldn't see most of the patients he wanted. He worked in both hospitals and outpatient settings. Shallow then learned about Safe Stride and transitioning to home health care was the obvious choice. Safe strides have remained a common theme throughout his career ever since.
“Safe Strides incorporates vestibular rehabilitation into a more comprehensive geriatric balance management program, which appealed to me and I thought made a lot of sense,” he said.
In her current role, Shallow advocates for fall risk management and strives to raise awareness that fall risk is preventable. Under his direction, CenterWell has integrated a comprehensive fall prevention assessment that addresses underlying factors such as visual, vestibular, and musculoskeletal factors, according to his nominator. The team works proactively to identify risks and intervene before falls occur.
“Rather than accepting falls as an inevitable part of aging, I have made it my mission to break the cycle,” Kyle LaVergne, CenterWell's vice president of clinical programs, wrote in his nomination. “Through his leadership, he employs a highly evidence-based, patient-centered approach that combines clinical precision and compassion to ensure older adults not only regain strength and balance, but also confidence in their daily lives.”
However, Shallow argues that there are actually no unique 'heroes' when it comes to supporting people at home. For him, it's the teamwork that really gets the attention.
“The idea of a hero is a singular person who is doing something on their own, but I don't think that describes me or what we do at the company,” he said. “I think it’s really important to recognize that we function in teams and the structure of the industry is built around teams.”
“Everything we do is done as a team and we rely on the support of those who have come before us and those who work with us to deliver positive outcomes for patients,” he added.
