How a New Home Health Program Is Helping Gerald Sloan Stay Independent

Gerald Sloan has a simple philosophy about growing older with a disability: “At my age and habits, you got to work with what you got.”

The East Tennessee native spent his career in the automotive parts industry, moving with his family across the Southeast before eventually settling back home. He was married to his wife for 42 years until she passed away in 2003. Family still anchors him. When his mobility began to decline, he moved to Cookeville to be down the street from his son.

An unfortunate staph infection in his right foot ended his working career, and arthritis has made movement harder ever since. After a stay in Cookeville Regional Medical Center’s Inpatient Rehabilitation Center, also known as the “blue roof”, he saw firsthand how the staff worked to get him strong enough to return home, an experience that stuck with him.

Mr. Sloan started with CRMC Home Health in April 2024. The first person he met was Amanda Clevenger, and he still remembers the difference she made. Home Health, he says, is what allows him to stay well enough to keep living at home.

More recently, he began Home Health’s physical therapy maintenance program, which is built for a different goal than typical therapy.

“Rather than working to restore lost function, this physical therapy maintenance program helps patients with chronic or stable conditions maintain the mobility, safety, and balance they already have, giving people whose conditions aren’t expected to improve continued access to skilled therapy, so they don’t lose ground,” said Joy Carr, director of CRMC Home Health

For Mr. Sloan, that means showing up each week and working hard, not just against his physical limits, but alongside a team he’s come to trust.

“They are the best, and everyone I’ve come in contact with is extremely nice,” he said. “I don’t feel like a number on a roster, but like someone people genuinely care about.’

His team includes Lizbeth Flores, Home Health aide; Allison Stalvey, physical therapist; Randy Stambaugh, physical therapist assistant; and Shannon Ford, nurse.

“It’s easy when you’re disabled to feel sorry for yourself, but that’s not going to get you through the day,” Mr. Sloan said. “I’ve noticed that my attitude has gotten better since working with Home Health.”

These days, he fills his time reading several newspapers, playing with his dog Gizmo, and working weekly with his CRMC Home Health team in his own home.

To learn more about Cookeville Regional Home Health or Home Health Physical Therapy Maintenance Program, visit crmchealth.org//home-health or call (931) 783-2941.