Patient’s Age: 85
Admission Date: 3/15/18
Admitted From: Overlook Medical Center
Discharged to: Home
Length of Stay: 58 Days
Reason for Stay: Acute respiratory failure and bilateral rib fracture.
How did patient hear about Chatham Hills?: Chatham Hills Website.

Details of experience:

Stacey Charter once said, “Life is all about timing… The unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable becomes available, the unattainable… attainable. Have the patience, wait it out it’s all about timing.” Helen’s story put meaning to this quote. Admitted to Chatham Hills Subacute Care Center on March 15, 2018, she knew it was going to take time. Every patient that comes in has needs that are addressed in a well-coordinated personal plan of care. Here at Chatham Hills, our goal is to get our patients back home leading the life they love.

Helen was innocently driving in her car one day when she suddenly experienced a blackout. In just a few short moments, her car crashed into a pole with her seatbelt restraining her. She was presented to Overlook Medical Center with multiple rib fractures, fracture of the right ankle and acute respiratory failure. Helen was then given an external fixator to stabilize her ankle fracture. She was also found to have an absence of enough oxygen in her blood to sustain bodily functions.

After almost a month in the hospital, Helen was told she needed further treatment at a subacute rehabilitation. Her son did some research and came across the Chatham Hills website. After scanning through pictures and the services we provide here along with receiving a scheduled tour of our community, he knew this was the place he wanted his mom to go. Upon admission, Helen was greeted by our highly-trained nursing and administrative staff. After she was evaluated by our also highly-trained therapy team, she demonstrated excellent rehab potential with motivation to participate and succeed.

Helen’s goal entering our therapy gym for the first time was, “to get back to how I was before the accident, to be back to normal.” She was informed that she would need therapy six days a week to facilitate independently with all functional mobility, increase functional activity tolerance, and to increase her overall strength. She was also informed that she would need a bone stimulator for her right lower leg for 20 minutes a day for her bone healing process.

Our therapy team at Chatham Hills is not only hard-working, but they are also encouraging. They never gave up on Helen, no matter how long it took her to get to her prior level of function. Working consistently in therapy, Helen started to improve more and more. She was initially not able to bear any weight on her legs, not able to go up one stair, not able to walk, and consistently needing oxygen for her respiratory failure. She was halfway to her goal after the completion of her first month at Chatham Hills. Almost another month later, she was able to perform bed mobility tasks, able to ambulate over 25 feet with a rolling walker with her oxygen less than 90%, ascending/descending 8 steps, along with completing the rest of her ADL’s- (Activities of Daily Living). She worked closely with her therapists, Candace and Sara, on self-care training, training to manage her wheelchair, learning strategies to safely maneuver around obstacles while walking and other performance tasks.

It took hard work and dedication, but team Chatham Hills is so excited to congratulate Helen on being able to return home walking! As Helen states, “I thought the therapy was excellent especially one of my therapists, Candace. She helped me so much and I just love her. The staff is very caring here. Kathleen, the Concierge Director, did a great job too; she is so warm and caring. I really thought everything was really nice, I enjoyed my stay very much and I’m going home fine now.”

Helen was such a joy to have and will be missed by our whole staff!