Patient’s Name: Maria Martinez
Patient’s Age: 59-years-old
Admission Date: 05/05/19
Admitted From: Helen Hayes Hospital
Discharge Date: 06/18/19
Discharged To: Home
Length of Stay: 47 days
Reason for Stay: Sepsis

Details of Experience:
Maria Martinez came to The Willows on May 5th from Helen Hayes Hospital for complications relating to Sepsis. She also has a history of hypertension, diabetes, anxiety, and a colostomy. She is currently living at home with her boyfriend, who assists in her care. Maria led a mostly independent lifestyle at home day-to-day with some assistance needed with certain activities like stairs. Her ultimate goal was to go back home with as much independence as possible.

Upon arrival to The Willows, Maria was greeted by our concierge, welcomed to our community, and shown to her private room. She was assessed by our therapy team for physical and occupational therapy, and goals were set to help facilitate Maria’s personal goal of returning back home.

In Physical Therapy a focus was ambulation and strengthening of her lower extremities. Exercises with weights and resistance were used to help build up the leg strength to be able to walk more independently and to be able to tolerate longer distances. With ambulation, she was initially able to go 100 ft with a rolling walker with assistance and supervision from the therapist. As she worked day after day not only was she able to upgrade to a Rollator but she was able to use it completely independently at unlimited distances. Maria also has 15 stairs at home. When she first started therapy she was able to do 3 steps with the therapist standing by with hands-on for safety but not giving physical assist. She worked her way up to being able to do 8 steps independently then eventually, meeting her goal, at 15 steps independently.

In occupational therapy, the team worked on improving her daily living skills back to prior levels and improving upper body strength. A focus was set on using weighted exercises and resistance exercises with the goal to build upper body strength and activity tolerance. Also, balancing exercises were done to help improve her outcomes. Therapy sessions were performed bedside surrounding morning care. In the beginning, the patient only required moderate assistance and supervision while she dressed and completed her hygiene. As her therapy sessions progressed, she was able to perform all her dressing and hygiene tasks independently! Maria was able to return home to levels stronger and more healthier than she had been before her illness; the team was ecstatic!

Maria was visited daily by the concierge department, who would often check in on her health, wellbeing, and experience. She was always thanking and blessing the staff for all of their hard work. A big help in her recovery was also much owed to her boyfriend’s constant presence -he visited regularly and encouraged her to work hard.

Maria made the most of her stay here at The Willows. She was a hard-working, friendly, cheerful presence in the facility. On the day of her discharge, she stated that “they treated me like gold here.” She was especially happy about the rehab department and she stated “the therapy was excellent, it was friendly and enjoyable.” In the end, Maria used her time productively and returned back home healthy and happy!