Admission Date: 3/26/19
Admitted From: Hudson Valley Hospital
Discharged Date: 4/24/19
Discharged to: Home with son and family
Length of Stay: 30 days
Reason for Stay: Multiple sclerosis and lower back pain
How did this patient hear about Cortlandt Healthcare? Reference from friends who were previous residents at Cortlandt Healthcare
Details of Experience:
Mrs. Edwards arrived at Cortlandt Healthcare on March 26th, 2019, as a result of a long battle with multiple sclerosis and a recent exacerbation. Mrs. Edwards recently attempted to wean down to a lower dose of pain medication and subsequently exhibited a significant decrease in her functional mobility, range of motion, reduced balance, and an increase in pain and the need for assistance from others. Once Mrs. Edwards arrived at Cortlandt, she was greeted with open arms by our director of admissions, subacute unit manager, and our director of concierge services.
Upon Mrs. Edwards’ arrival, she received a full evaluation from our rehabilitation department. Short term goals were put in place very quickly for Mrs. Edwards for both physical and occupational therapy. Her physical therapy short term goals were to be able to perform transfers with moderate (50%) assistance, perform bed mobility with moderate assistance, and to ambulate 25 feet with a rolling walker with moderate assistance.
Occupational therapy established Mrs. Edwards with several short term goals as well, including completing hygiene and grooming tasks sitting in front of a mirror with stand by assistance and to be able to safely and efficiently perform upper body dressings with stand by assistance with no equipment.
Mrs. Edwards advanced through her short term goals with the help of her rehabilitation therapists, but her initial progression was akin to a seesaw. There were days where her ability to fully participate in therapy would change, due to her pain and the management of it. Her pain would severely hamper some of her goals, particularly walking. Nevertheless, through the Interdisciplinary pain management program (featuring the nursing, rehabilitation, and medical professional departments). Mrs. Edwards managed and stabilized her pain, thereby allowing her to fully progress through her rehabilitation program.
After Mrs. Edwards was able to complete her short term goals, she was able to shift her efforts towards her long term goals. Some of Mrs. Edwards’ long term physical therapy goals consisted of performing bed mobility tasks with modified independence, safely ambulate 100 feet using a rolling walker and stand by assistance, and to lower her pain significantly from an 8/10 measurement.
Some of Mrs. Edwards’ long term occupational therapy goals were to safely perform full-body bathing with minimum assistance and the use of a long-handled shower head and shower chair, to safely and efficiently perform lower body dressing with minimum assistance and no equipment and to perform functional mobility during activities of daily living using the least restrictive device and stand by assistance.
Once again, Mrs. Edwards showed she was fully capable of rehabilitating with the help of our therapists. Based on the successful completion of her short term goals, the only obstacle for her was the continued maintenance of her pain. Through participation in her pain management program, Mrs. Edwards met all her long term goals as well.
Four short weeks later, on April 24th, 2019, Mrs. Edwards was discharged to her son’s home where she lives with her son and his family whom many employees had the opportunity to meet personally. She shared that she enjoyed her stay with us since she knew the community would help her get better and she felt the therapists themselves were extremely dedicated to making that happen. In fact, Mrs. Edwards stated, “I would definitely recommend anyone to come here if they need therapy.”
Cortlandt Healthcare was honored to see Mrs. Edwards return home. Due to the successful completion of her rehabilitation program, Mrs. Edwards plans to take a trip to Israel in the near future- what a way to celebrate a successful recovery!