Patients Age: 80
Admission Date: 11/19/2018
Admitted From: Hudson Valley Hospital Center
Discharge Date: 4/23/2018
Discharged To: Home
Length of Stay: 156 Days
Reason for stay: Strengthening core muscles and balance in order to heal a fractured left leg and replace an old prosthesis for her right leg.

Details of Experience:

Barbara Prescott came to The Emerald Peek Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on November 19, 2017, following a hospital stay for left humeral and left femur fractures. Barbara and her family were welcomed upon arrival by Katie Cullum, Director of Concierge Service. 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.

Barbara’s family is a constant fixture in her life. A self-described homebody, she did not like to be away from her home or family. The focus of our patient-centered approach for Barbara was for each member of the interdisciplinary team to spend a little additional time with Barbara, discovering how each department could help Barbara feel at home. This included creating an individualized Recreation plan and ensuring Dietary would customize her meal plan.

Barbara arrived with a Non-Weight Bearing (NWB) status for her left upper and lower extremities. As a below the knee amputee, this was frustrating for Barbara who was fiercely independent prior to her accident. Her therapists, Kiran for occupational therapy and Kristine for physical therapy, worked closely with Barbara’s Orthopedist in the community, Dr. Nicole Belkin, to increase her strength and shorten her NWB time. This was done in occupational therapy with a focus on sitting balance, safe bed mobility transfers, and increasing her ability to feed and groom herself. For physical therapy, Kristine focused on sit to stand and sliding board transfers to prepare for the change in her NWB status. This treatment plan worked well, as Barbara’s NWB status was lifted on January 18, 2018, and she was ready for Phase 2 of her Rehabilitation program.

Barbara’s daughter, Nancy, was very concerned about how she would take care of mom at home. Nancy began to work closely with Susan Agrella, our Director of Social Work, to formulate a plan to ensure home care. Barbara was working hard to become more and more independent every day.
With her short-term goals behind her, Barbara and Kiran turned their attention to feeding, grooming, and hygiene. She was able to not only reach her prior functional levels, but was able to make great gains in upper and lower body dressing, clothing management and toileting.
For physical therapy, Barbara was not only able to transfer safely and independently from bed to her wheelchair, she was able to graduate from the wheelchair to a walker and ambulate over 100 feet without supervision.

Tom, our Director of Rehabilitation, partnered Barbara with our prosthesisist to fit her for a replacement prosthesis for her right leg. This replacement usually takes months but was done in a shorter amount of time thanks to our Wound team, who healed old wounds which were impacting the fit.

Barbara completed her journey with The Emerald Peek on April 23rd, 2018. Barbara’s stay was longer than she expected it to be. Despite many obstacles and limitations, Barbara was upbeat, worked hard, and always stayed positive. She always had nice things to say to all and encouraged others, including other residents. She walked out of The Emerald Peek under her own power with a walker and a brand-new prosthesis!

Barbara had mixed emotions when she left; happy to get back to her routine but sad to be leaving us. On the day of discharge, Barbara’s daughter Nancy said, “We never thought we would see the day where Mom walked out with a walker. Never. Your team is simply amazing!”. We here at The Emerald Peek are honored to help Barbara in reaching her goals! We wish her and her family the best of luck!