Comprehensive Rehabilitation Programs

Comprehensive rehabilitation programs help people with disabilities, injuries or complex medical conditions achieve an improved quality of life. These programs take a holistic approach to recovery and are designed to improve physical function, increase independence, and promote mental, emotional and social well-being.

Many of those who benefit from comprehensive rehabilitation programs suffer from chronic illnesses, such as COPD or diabetes, or have recently spent time in the intensive care unit of a traditional hospital following a traumatic injury or major neurological, cardiac or pulmonary event. Sometimes, when patients are medically stable and physically able to begin a rehabilitation program, they are transferred to a rehabilitation hospital where they receive speech, occupational and/or physical rehabilitation. However, those who need a wider variety of rehabilitation services, as well as those who require continued intensive care in addition to specialized rehabilitation, benefit from the more comprehensive programs provided in long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs). In this environment, rehabilitation services are integrated with specialized acute care to help patients with medically complex conditions achieve the fullest and most complete recovery.

Kindred Hospitals feature an integrated team of skilled clinicians with a comprehensive understanding of the diseases and conditions our patients face. This includes specialty physicians as well as physical, occupational and speech therapists who excel at developing programs that address many issues, including difficulty speaking, trouble with activities of daily living and poor range of motion. A complete care plan might include various types of physical therapy programs to help improve physical function, along with acute programs, like pulmonary rehabilitation, that reduce the effects of debilitating diseases.

Success in our comprehensive rehabilitation programs is of the utmost importance to us. Consistent with our mission, we continually review our patient outcomes to ensure state-of-the-art care and optimal results.

Types of Treatment

Whether you are recovering from surgery, a traumatic injury, or a cardiac, neurological or pulmonary event, Kindred Hospitals feature rehabilitation services that will help you achieve an improved quality of life.

These include:

• Cardiac care – Cardiovascular disorders are the leading cause of death in the United States. Cardiac rehabilitation/secondary prevention programs are integral to the comprehensive care of patients with cardiovascular disease. These include exercise programs to improve cardiovascular health, education on eliminating risk factors and counseling to reduce stress.
• Pulmonary rehabilitation – Critical to the health management of patients with respiratory diseases or conditions, pulmonary rehab aims to reduce symptoms, increase muscle strength and endurance, increase exercise tolerance, help manage anxiety and depression, and promote self-management.
• Wound care – Our therapists work with the interdisciplinary team to ensure patients are receiving additional medical services to facilitate the healing process, including wound care. Patients are evaluated by a rehab professional, and appropriate treatment interventions are implemented, including electro-modalities, conservative sharp debridement, mobility training, compression, pressure relief/redistribution and proper positioning.
• Neurological rehabilitation – Our physical and occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists are trained in state-of-the-art neurological assessment and treatment techniques that support maximum recovery for patients with stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and progressive neurological diseases.

Other types of therapies are also offered to improve quality of life for patients, including fall and restraint management, pain management, cognition, positioning, gait training, dysphagia and cognition.

The interdisciplinary teams at Kindred Hospitals work together to accomplish the following goals of our comprehensive rehabilitation programs:

• Improving independent function and self-monitoring with activities of daily living
• Increasing exercise tolerance and decreasing shortness of breath in all areas of functional mobility
• Enhancing communication, cognitive and swallowing abilities
• Improving quality of life
• Managing anxiety, stress and depression
• Supporting self-management of medication

When patients come to us with serious, medically complex conditions, they need a multifaceted treatment plan that both manages symptoms and improves the body’s ability to function,” says Dr. Dean French, Chief Medical Officer. “Kindred is unique in our ability to provide specialized medical care paired with customized rehabilitation that helps patients recover to the fullest extent.”

Success Spotlight: Jessica's Story

Jessica’s world as she knew it changed in an instant when she was in a horrific vehicle accident that almost claimed her life. She suffered extensive injuries and required intensive care to stabilize her physical condition, but the damage her brain had sustained in the crash was so severe that Jessica’s physicians told her family to prepare for the worst; Jessica might never be able to regain her normal mental status and participate in family life.

Uncertain of what came next in Jessica’s recovery, or if her daughter would have to spend the rest of her life in an assisted living facility, Jessica’s mother chose Kindred Hospital as the next level of care.

Jessica was no longer dependent on a ventilator when she first arrived at Kindred, but she still had a breathing tube in place. She also relied on a feeding tube and she was entirely unresponsive, requiring maximum care from her caregivers. With her mother and other family members at her side from the very beginning, Jessica slowly began to show signs of awareness. When she began to respond with more intention, her team of caregivers began to get Jessica up and out of bed daily and started a more aggressive program of physical and occupational therapy. Jessica was also aided by her speech pathologist to reconnect her speech and vocal pathways, allowing Jessica to begin using words to describe colors as well as to regain the ability to swallow and take food and drink by mouth again once the breathing tube was finally removed.

After spending nearly five months at Kindred, Jessica continued to amaze everyone at the facility with her progress. Her mother was overcome with gratitude when her daughter was able to be discharged to a facility that specializes in brain injury rehabilitation. Her entire team gathered to wish her well and celebrate this major milestone and wish her the best.

Just recently Jessica’s mother called to update the team at Kindred on her progress; “Jessica came back home in October, has continued to improve and now is back to living a normal life,” she said. “She loves doing her makeup and going out shopping with her friends. I can hardly find the words to describe my feelings and I’m very grateful for the care everyone at Kindred provided to help with Jessica’s recovery.”