Patient’s Name: Eileen H.
Patient’s Age: 76-years-old
Admission Date: 06/04/2020
Admitted From: Skyline Medical Center
Discharged Date: 07/21/2020
Discharged To: Group home
Reason for Stay: CVA (cerebrovascular accident)
How did this patient hear about Gallatin Center? Patient has been a previous patient at the Gallatin Center

Details of Experience:
There is just something about sitting outside soaking up the sun with a good book or knitting a scarf or booties. While at home, Eileen liked to spend time sitting outdoors, breathing in the fresh air, while reading a mystery novel by Stuart Woods on her Kindle. She’s only lived in Tennessee for a couple of years but has enjoyed being closer to the family during that time. One day, Eileen was at home working on her knitting and she said that she woke up and found herself in the hospital. She didn’t understand what was happening and was trying to figure out what went wrong. After being evaluated by the medical staff, she was diagnosed with a CVA. Eileen was showing signs of aphasia and began working with the therapy department to start her road to recovery.

Eileen remained in the hospital for six days and then transferred to the Gallatin Center for more therapy services. She has been to the Gallatin Center before, so she was able to see some familiar faces when she arrived. She was greeted by the Nursing, Social Services, Director of Concierge Services, Dietary, and the Recreation to welcome her and assure her that she was going to get 5-star care! Eileen demonstrated weakness, decreased balance, and also impaired cognition. She performed activities to stimulate her memory and problem-solving skills with the Speech Therapist. She worked on strengthening her upper, lower body, and also balance to increase independence with her bathing, dressing, and mobility. She said that she wanted to work hard to regain her balance because she didn’t want to “fall down on the ground anymore,” Eileen said.

Now is the time she really got focused and put in the effort needed to make progress in therapy. She shared that she had a previous experience where she had fallen and had to spend the night sleeping on the floor because she couldn’t get up. She didn’t want to go through that again. After participating in strengthening activities and different interventions to increase her balance, Eileen increased the distance she was able to walk from 50 feet with contact guard assistance to 200 feet with supervision. She shared that the nursing staff and techs were nice and they were really good about keeping her room clean. The OT and PT services were increasing her strength and she required less assistance with self-care tasks. Speech therapy services helped Eileen regain some of her memory and problem-solving skills. She started to feel like her old self.

After seven weeks, Eileen was finally ready to be discharged home. She sat in her room and daydreamed about going back home. “The first thing I’ll do when I get home is to hug my roommate. I miss her so much,” Eileen said. She shared that she missed staying up late at night and having great conversations with her roommate. Eileen was eager to discharge to her home in Madison and was able to get back to her hobbies of knitting and finding a quiet spot to read a book on her Kindle. The Gallatin Center wants to congratulate Eileen for all of her efforts, focus, and spirit to reach her set goals. Her smile and personality will be missed!