Patients Age: 84
Admission Date: 5/31/2017
Admitted From: New York Presbyterian Hospital/ Hudson Valley Hospital
Discharge Date: 6/23/2017
Discharged To: Home
Length of Stay: 23 days
Reason for stay: To heal a Stage 2 wound as well as increase care strength for mobility, balance and to get back to the independent ADL functions she had been capable of prior to onset of Pneumonia.

Details of Experience:

It was a true pleasure to welcome Sarah Lusuriello to our caring community at the Emerald Peek Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on May 31, 2017. She came to us from New York Presbyterian Hospital hoping to make a recovery after being recently diagnosed with Pneumonia. Sarah and her family chose The Emerald Peek based on the recommendation of the case manager at Hudson Valley Hospital.

Immediately upon her arrival, Sarah appeared to be overwhelmed by the emotional journey she had been on for the previous few days. She and her family were greeted by our warm, dedicated staff consisting of our Director of Concierge Services, Director of Recreation and our RN Care Manager.. After being brought to her room, Sarah met with our clinical team that included our RN Unit Manager, Director of Rehabilitation, Dietician, and Director of Social Work. She was now the newest member of the Emerald Peek family and the staff immediately began her recovery process.

Week 1 of Patient’s Stay

Sarah was an active woman who enjoyed playing cards and discussing her great passion for gardening. She would often enjoy her time sitting by the Emerald Peek Garden. Due to her recent battle with pneumonia, Sarah had a decrease in her muscle strength and found it difficult to safely perform functional transfers. She could not get in and out of her bed alone upon admission. She also did not have the ability to perform hygiene and grooming acts while sitting in her wheelchair. After evaluations by Yosef, Physical Therapist, and Jennifer, COTA, from the Rehabilitation team, her rehabilitation schedule was set to six days a week for both Physical and Occupational Therapy.

With Sarah’s focus and dedication, she saw extensive progress in her first week of rehabilitation alone. By combining simple bedside exercises and utilizing the brand new equipment in our Therapy Gym, Yosef was able to assist Sarah build up core strength. She was now able to get in and out of her bed with side rails, with only minimal supervision by an aid. She was now also able to ambulate 15 feet with the help of a rolling walker while being closely supervised. Jennifer focused on Neuro-rehabilitation, working on dressing skills as well as how to execute Activities of Daily Living (ADL) while on Oxygen. At the end of week 1, Sarah was able to Toilet herself with minimal assistance and perform hygiene and grooming tasks independently.

The support of family is critical to the rehabilitation process. Since Sarah’s discharge plan was to return to her daughter’s home, educating the family on how to care for Sarah was very important. Both Yosef and Jennifer worked closely with the family to show them the proper techniques for assisting Sarah dress, toilet and perform hygiene tasks should she ever need assistance at home, including using various adaptive equipment to make assisting Sarah easier on both Sarah and the caregivers.

Weeks 2-3 of Patient’s Stay

During her second and third weeks, Sarah continued to make remarkable progress. She was now able to ambulate 75 feet with a rolling walker, transfer in/out of bed with supervision only and able to climb four stairs with minimal assistance. There were similar accomplishments in occupational therapy as well. Sarah was now able to toilet herself with only a grab bar and her functional mobility for all other ADLs was with minimal supervision.

While we were building Sarah’s physical strength, we were working on eliminating her dependency on oxygen and healing her stage 2 wound. Our In-House Wound Doctor, Dr. Ravikumar and his team followed Sarah and worked with the clinical team to completely heal the Stage 2 wound in 14 days. Also, the clinical team, lead by our in-house Medical Director, Dr. Neshiewat, focused on weaning her off of the oxygen and resolving the pneumonia in 18 days. Her emotional and social well-being improved during her stay as well. Sarah attended a gardening class and was a frequent visitor to our Emerald Peek Garden during her stay. She even advised our Recreational Director on which plants would work best in the shade!

Within 3 days of patient’s discharge

Sarah was now ready to return home to live with her family after reaching her goals. She was discharged on June 23, 2017. Sandy, our RN Care Manager, made a home visit with Sarah’s daughter, to ensure everything was set for Sarah’s return. Sarah was anxious to return home to her family. One of her family members stated, “We feel much better prepared taking her home this time. Not only did you help her, but you helped us as well. We are so grateful for everything!” Sarah stated, “I cannot wait to get home and make our garden as pretty as yours. I thought there for a while I would never be able to go outside again. Thank you for helping me get back to myself.”