Patient’s Age: 85-years-old
Admission Date: 01/23/2020
Readmission Date: 02/12/2020
Admitted From: Morristown Medical Center
Discharge Date: 02/29/2020
Discharged To: Home
Reason for Stay: Weakness, S/P pneumothorax
How did this patient hear about Chatham Hills? Web search
Details of Experience:
Everything that Joan was used to was ripped away by a dangerous illness. Joan’s everyday life was simple, at best. She went to chair yoga on Wednesdays, listened to audiobooks at home, and had Sunday lunch at the Country Club with the girls. Everything was going good until one day the unexpected happened. She noticed she was having trouble breathing and standing up. Worried about her own safety, she went to Morristown Hospital. She was diagnosed with the flu and pneumothorax. After having breathing issues and stuck in bed, her team at Morristown knew she was going to need extensive subacute rehab before returning home to regain her strength.
Joan was admitted to Chatham Hills Subacute Care Center on January 23, 2020. Upon admission, she was greeted by our highly trained teammates who were expecting her. Joan’s goals upon admission were, “to return home being able to walk and breathe”. Joan met her incredible main therapists, Leslie and Sara, who were extra motivated to get her to those goals!
Joan was ready to put the flu behind her and return to her old self. Upon evaluation, Joan was only able to ambulate 10 feet and required contact assistance with all Activities of Daily Living. She participated in therapy six days a week, consistently practicing dressing and bathing techniques, walking up and down the hallway, and learning compensatory strategies for energy conservation.
Joan was excelling but sadly faced a bump in the road to recovery. By a tragic turn of events, Joan was transported to the emergency room where she was admitted for a respiratory infection. She was treated in the hospital with increased labored breathing. When she was readmitted to Chatham Hills, she came back looking better than ever, eager, and extremely motivated to get back to healing. Joan exceeded all therapy expectations to return to her prior level of function for a safe discharge home!
Joan did not just receive regular therapy while she was in our community. She was able to participate in our Group Therapy, which combines both therapy and recreation staff for a fun-filled treatment time, without noticing they are in treatment! Group Therapy is a perfect opportunity for social interactions, teamwork amongst Patients and Residents, cooking activities, and competitive games. She also participated in Therapy Without Borders. Therapy without Borders in Chatham Hills is a perfect opportunity for our Patients to not only be comfortable with being in the gym but throughout our whole community. Within this program, our patients can complete treatments in our dayrooms, their bedrooms, and all hallways with varying floor surfaces. Nursing gets to be involved and aware of their patients’ therapeutic status. It also promotes social interaction during treatment.
With her discharge date approaching, Joan has renewed strength and is able to return to her baseline. She is now able to walk 50 feet and was able to complete all activities of daily living. We are so proud of all the progress she has made thus far! Joan stated, “everybody at Chatham Hills was very nice. The therapy team here is a great help and they listened to what I wanted. I wanted to walk first then exercise and that is exactly what they did. I played bingo and tried to do some activities while I was here which were great too. I got to play twister during group therapy which was a fun way to do exercise!”
Team Chatham Hills would love to congratulate our Celebrity of the Month, Joan, on her accomplishments and hard work!