Patients Age: 81
Admission Date: 12/12/2018
Admitted From: Putnam Hospital Center
Discharge Date: 3/12/2018
Discharged To: Home
Length of Stay: 90 Days
Reason for stay: Strengthening core muscles and heal a fractured right lower leg.

Details of Experience:

Mary Brush came to The Emerald Peek Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on December 12, 2017 with a fractured right lower leg and significant muscle weakness hindering her ability to gather strength to go home. Mary and her daughter Mary Jane were greeted by Sandy Gomas, RN Care Manager upon their arrival. Mary was evaluated by the remainder of our clinical leadership team within 24 hours of her arrival and was evaluated and treated by the Rehabilitation team within 12 hours.

The team discovered quickly Mary had two very big priorities during her stay: to strengthen her core muscles so she could safely return to her home and to make sure her stay here was as enjoyable as possible. Mary is a very social person, so Therapeutic Recreational Activities were just as important to her as her Rehabilitation schedule. Ivy Banach, Community Liaison, met with the family at Putnam Hospital prior to admission and worked with Michele D’Angiolillio, Director of Admissions, to ensure Mary’s roommate would be a good fit with her with shared interests. The roommate pairing was a perfect match. Mary and her roommate began to attend activities together on Mary’s second day!

Mary and her family were concerned about her ability to rehab given her initial non-weight bearing status upon admission. Yousaf, Physical Therapist and Kiran, Occupational Therapist understood Mary’s challenges and put together a treatment plan that would allow Mary to move forward with her Rehabilitation program while healing her fractured leg. This treatment program included exercises, neuromuscular reeducation and gait training as well as Bilateral Upper Extremity (BUE) score of 3+ out of 5 to enable her to perform Activities of Daily Living tasks when she would become weight bearing on her right leg.

Mary became a beloved member of the Emerald Peek family, both inside the Rehabilitation Gym and outside of it. Mary would spend time during her Therapy sessions focused on her tasks and encouraging others at the same time, including her roommate. With the success of meeting her short term goals behind her, Mary felt more determined to work on her long term goals. These goals included increasing her BUE strength from 3+ out of 5 to 4+ out of 5, performing ADL tasks Moderately Independently or Supervision only, and maintaining fair standing balance. Not only was Mary able to perform all these tasks, but she also was able to fully dress and undress herself fully independently.

Mary ended her journey with us on March 12, 2018. Throughout her stay, Mary and her daughter expressed concern over Mary’s ability to go home and not return to the hospital or place extra burden on her family. At the end of Mary’s journey, she and her daughter were thrilled with Mary’s recovery and rehabilitation. Mary shared, “I did not think I would be comfortable going home. I thought I would need so much more help than I will need at home. I will need some help, but I have a lot of my life back. Your team is great. Really great!”