Patient’s Age: 85-years-old
Admission Date: 09/19/2019
Admitted From: Overlook Medical Center
Discharge Date: 10/11/19
Length of Stay: 22 Days
Discharged To: Home
Reason for Stay: CHF exacerbation
How did this patient hear about Chatham Hills? From New Providence Senior Center
Details of Experience:
Imagine living your life independently, able to do everything by yourself and suddenly have to be in and out of hospitals with complicated illnesses. Unfortunately, Rich experienced this while at home one day in the summer. On July 21st, 2019, he was hospitalized for congestive heart failure exacerbation. While in the hospital, he exhibited slight hypothermia, hypotension, and low oxygen. Rich also has a history of lung cancer and chronic respiratory failure. He returned home but as the fall season was approaching, he suffered a fall, which led to experiencing shortness of breath and weakness. Realizing something was seriously wrong, he was taken to Overlook Hospital for help. After testing and a short hospital stay, a recommendation was made by the team at Overlook that he was going to need extensive subacute rehab.
Rich was admitted to Chatham Hills on September 19, 2019. Upon admission, his goal was to ‘get out of bed and be able to go home’. Rich was evaluated by our highly-trained therapists, Leslie and Sara. During his initial assessment, he presented with weakness, shortness of breath and an overall decline in all ADLs and mobility tasks. Team Chatham Hills knew they had to put together the best plan of care for him to improve his strength.
Rich and his family were motivated for his healing process. He participated in therapy six days a week consistently practicing energy conservation techniques, bathing techniques and most importantly, they worked diligently with him on his tolerance with activities. His therapists’ goal upon his admission for him was to safely perform functional activities for 1-3 minutes without shortness of breath. On September 20th, he could only handle 30 seconds.
Before his hospital stay, Rich and his wife, Carol, were very active in the New Providence Senior Center. He is one of the famous bingo callers! Our Concierge Director, Kathleen Ferlise, has been volunteering at the New Providence Senior Center for many years with Rich and was thrilled to be there for him and his wife during his recovery. Team Chatham Hills was also so eager to help Carol set up transportation to visit Rich every day. With our new complimentary car service, our receptionist was able to make sure that her scheduled ride safely picked her up and dropped her off!
After working hard in therapy every day, Rich went from walking only 15 feet to over 100 feet, unable to climb steps to climbing 6 steps. He is still on oxygen daily but he can now tolerate up to 3 minutes of activity without shortness of breath! With the help from Team Chatham Hills, Rich succeeded in all of his therapy goals.
Rich and Carol wrote a lovely card after his discharge that stated, “Our compliments to you and your staff for the quality of care given to Rich during his stay at Chatham Hills. The staff was always present for him helping him achieve the goals set for him. He was sent home with more mobility and a brighter future. Thank you all!”
Team Chatham Hills is thrilled to congratulate Rich on his success in and out of our community! Happy Graduation, Rich!