Patient’s Age: 59-years-old
Admission Date: 02/04/2021
Admitted From: Southern Hills Hospital
Discharge Date: 02/27/21
Discharged To: Vanderbuilt
Length of Stay: 24 days
Reason for Stay: Alcohol withdrawal and recent falls
How did the patient hear about Bethany Center for Rehabilitation and Healing? Caseworker at Southern Hills


Details of Experience:
Tom was admitted to Bethany following a five-night stay at the hospital. He went to the ER with a complaint of having alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The hospital admitted him in preparation to administer IV fluids and other medications to assist with the symptoms. After being admitted he shared that he had fallen at home recently because he was also experiencing some weakness in his legs.

Upon his admission to Bethany, he was greeted by the admissions team, nurse, and concierge. The nursing department assessed the patient to complete his initial evaluation. The concierge completed her initial admission evaluation, asking about food preferences, likes and dislikes, and getting to know the patient better. The following morning our therapy department met with Tom and administered their evaluation. Tom came in excited to receive help with therapy and his medication. He shared that he has struggled with anxiety and needed assistance with the medication. When Tom was admitted, he did not utilize a walker or wheelchair. He was able to stand and transfer, it was just not very safe for him to do so without assistance.

Therapy set short-term and long-term goals for him. The short-term goals include, improving mobility, improving strength, performing functional transfers, and standing for longer than five minutes without the assistance of a railing or walker. Long-term goals included ambulating safely on a level surface more than 250 feet at a time without a walker and ambulating up and down at least 12 stairs. Tom was very excited to start his therapy journey. He participated in therapy five times a week for one hour a day. He often did exercises in his room that he liked to call “extra credit”. These goals are targeted to be met on 02/25/2021.

Tom shared “I enjoy staying active, so I believe therapy is going to be a fun activity for me, I am looking forward to getting better and stronger during my stay here,” and that is exactly what he did. Therapy was able to take him into the hallways to practice ambulating with the assistance of the railing. Within the first week of his stay, he completed his first goal of safely transferring from bed to bathroom and back and started doing sitting leg raises with ankle weights to build his lower body strength. Week two of his stay Tom, met his standing goal and was able to add dynamic functional tasks while standing such as brushing his teeth, washing hands, and combing his hair. He was also able to safely ambulate in the hallway up to 150 feet by the end of week 2. After several days of leg strengthening exercises and balance exercises, he took his first turn on the stairs. On his first try, he was able to ascend up ten stairs without stopping! Together they continued to improve his standing time and adding in more dynamic functional activities, such as: hanging up clothes and putting on a jacket, continuing to work on ambulating, and ascending and descending the stairs. By 02/22/2021, he had met and surpassed both short and long-term goals. Tom was able to ambulate up to 300 ft safely, stand for more than 15 minutes, while doing functional activities, and transfer safely.

The concierge met with Tom prior to discharge to talk about his therapy experience and he shared “If it wasn’t for Bethany, I wouldn’t have gotten back to myself. I really appreciate everything everyone has done for me.”

We are so proud of Tom for excelling in his therapy treatment and wish him the best!