Case Study: Chatham Hills Subacute Care Center (April 2019)

Patient’s Age: 76-years-old
Admission Date: 02/08/2019
Admitted From: Morristown Medical Center
Discharge Date: 03/30/19
Length of Stay: 50 days
Discharged To: Home
Reason for Stay: Left hip fracture
How did this patient hear about Chatham Hills? Online research, Google reviews


Details of Experience:

It was a normal day for Steve on January 30th until the unfortunate happened. He was walking normally right before he slipped on a patch of ice and landed on his left side. After lying on the ground, he tried to get up before realizing he could not put any weight on his side or ambulate. He was quickly brought to Morristown Medical Center for further evaluation. He was admitted and found to have a left hip fracture.
After his stay in the hospital, Steve’s daughter chose Chatham Hills for further rehabilitation services so he could return home living his normal life.

Steve was welcomed to Chatham Hills on February 8th, 2019. Upon entering, he was greeted and evaluated by our highly-trained nursing and therapy teams. He stated that his goal was, “to be able to walk, use the bathroom and take care of myself again.”

After his therapy evaluation with his amazing therapists, Steve required maximum assistance with all his self-care tasks; he was totally dependent on help from his therapists and was not able to ambulate.

During the early stages of his rehabilitation journey, he was non-weight bearing for almost two months, which immensely slowed down his healing process. Until the orders were given for full weight-bearing status, his therapists consistently worked with him on strengthening exercises. One of Steve’s main focuses was to practice weight shifting while standing, to strengthen his left leg to then progress to take steps forward.

Steve was able to participate in a new program that Chatham Hills initiated called “Therapy Groups.” Therapy Groups are a service provided by either an occupational or physical therapist joined with our recreation department. Steve attended our bingo group and Pictionary group, where he practiced transferring, standing and other varieties of exercises all while having fun!

Steve never lost motivation. He was always prepared for what was next to come in therapy. Steve’s progress gradually continued with time. He began to need less assistance with all his ADL’s (Activities of Daily Living), like dressing and bathing. Once he felt stronger with his left leg, he was able to start ambulating! Upon admission to Chatham Hills, Steve was not able to ambulate at all, could not ascend/descend stairs and was totally dependent on his therapists for assistance.

After hard work and dedication, he is able to ambulate over 200 feet, climb eight steps and is back to being independent! Steve was discharged on March 30th. He left with a smile on his face, knowing that he was going to go home to his wife!

We wish Steve only happiness and health going forward. We hope to see him real soon as a visitor!