Getting to know Keith Screen, director of rehab at Heritage Healthcare

Keith has been an occupational therapist for 30 years. He graduated from Indiana University in Indianapolis and took a job with a small skilled nursing facility company there. In 2008, Keith transitioned to Heritage Healthcare so that he could pursue his lymphedema therapy certification. He was quickly promoted to Director of Rehabilitation a year and a half later.

In 2010, Keith became lymphedema certified.

“I had a lot of lymphedema cases and had learned to wrap well but was still missing some parts of the healing component, so I chose to go get the Manual Lymphatic Drainage certification. It was fun and exciting and sounded like a cool challenge.”

Before joining Heritage Healthcare, Keith was the Director of Rehab at another facility and performed a remarkable turnaround for the facility, helping it become a leading referral source in the area. This success followed him to Heritage where referrals continue to ask for Keith specifically.

Keith’s interests, hobbies & family

Keith is very proud of his family –– his wife, his son, who attends Purdue University, and his daughter, who attends Butler University and has been accepted into multiple physical therapy programs.

He enjoys going to national parks and plans to visit his twentieth national park next summer!

The Boy Scouts of America has been a big part of his life, and Keith has been a district leader for years. In 2020, he received the District Award of Merit for outstanding service to Boy Scout youths.

For fun, Keith enjoys diamond painting and often gives his creations as gifts.

Therapy experience Keith will never forget

“There was a patient who was admitted with lung cancer and was given less than a month to live. He was also incredibly depressed and deconditioned. He couldn’t feed himself or get out of bed. He had broken all ties with his family and burned all the bridges.

I started occupational therapy with him and made a connection, and I found out that he was a contractor who built houses. I had two doll houses that my mom had bought at an auction that needed to be remodeled, and I asked him if he would help me. He started getting up and helping me to paint and remodel the doll houses.

He started coming out of his room, participating in therapy and was becoming stronger and less depressed. He helped me build the doll house, and while we were working, we talked about family and having kids. Eventually, he felt confident enough to reach out to his family, which gave him some peace. He even came down after he had completed therapy to work on another doll house!

He ended up living for months, and he told me before he left how much working on the doll houses meant to him and his quality of life. It reminds me of why I care and why I do what I do –– to help give a purpose to everyone’s life.”