Concierge Name: Deaven Golding
Patient’s Name: Wilma
Patient’s Age: 59-years-old
Admission Date: 12/16/2019
Admitted From: Vanderbilt Medical Center
Discharge Date: 01/22/2020
Discharged To: Home, Nashville, TN
Length of Stay: 38 days
Reason for Stay: The patient has congestive heart failure (CHF), diabetes, and her legs started swelling at home. She could not lift them to walk and fell several times attempting to walking up the stairs at her home.
How did patient hear about Bethany Center for Rehabilitation and Healing? Wilma has been a patient at two of the CareRite Centers, this is her 3 rd time at Bethany. The first time was in 2017, again in 2018, and in 2019 into 2020.

Details of Experience:
Ms. Wilma was admitted into Bethany Center from her house on 12/16/2019. I met her in her room when she came into the building and greeted her with a smile. She instantly said, “I am so happy to be here again.” As I introduced myself and proceeded with the new admission evaluation I asked her why she was excited to be here again. She informed me that she had been here two times previously and that this is the only place she wanted to be other than home. Wilma came in high spirits.

Her admitting diagnosis included CHF, diabetes, and severe swelling in her legs. She wanted to come to Bethany for therapy to be able to live at home and get around with minimal assistance. She currently lives in a house with her sister and has 13 stairs to get up into the house. That was the main concern for her and the therapists. While she was in the hospital, she stated their main focus was getting the fluid off of her to relieve some of that uncomfortable pressure. Wilma stated, “They were giving me meds by IV and were able to drain more than 2 buckets full of fluid off my legs.”

Immediately, the physical and occupational therapists started working on strengthening her arms so she could help with transfers as much as possible. Wilma clearly stated that her goal was to be able to transfer by herself and to be able to ambulate up and down the stairs at her house. The physical therapist started her out on the stationary bike to strengthen her legs and get them moving in the right motions. Every morning they would work with her on a range of motion while in the bed so she could be prepared for the bike. Her baseline on the bike started at 5 minutes at a time and working up to being able to ride for 30 minutes. She wanted to start working on walking up and down the stairs right away, she told therapy. But of course, they had to walk with her down the hallway before trying the stairs. The first time she attempted to ambulate with a walker post-hospital visit she made it 8 feet. Over 38 days, she was able to walk up and down all the hallways in the building with a walker. Wilma felt very confident with her walker; she wanted to try the stairs. At first, she was discouraged that she was not going up the stairs fast enough but she kept pushing and stayed positive. By her discharge, she was able to walk up and down the stairs with the assistance of the handrail.

Occupational therapy really focused on transfers. She was able to transfer from bed to wheelchair without help within her first two weeks. She was also able to transfer from wheelchair to toilet by herself within the first two weeks. Therapy would put small wrist weights on her arms for when she was using her wheelchair to help strengthen her arms and she loved that. Both therapy departments provided Wilma with a list of exercises to take home with her to use to keep her strength up.

I spent a lot of one on one time with this amazing lady and no matter how much she was hurting or felt like she was failing she kept pushing. I saw this spark in her that told her to keep pushing to get better and better each day. During her time that she was not in therapy, she sat with other residents and colored beaded necklaces, and played Bingo. She really enjoyed everything we had to offer here at Bethany and really brightened everyone’s day.