Success Stories
Edna
Knew She was in Great Hands.
Edna lived in a nursing home, and when she was found experiencing seizure-like activity she was rushed to the hospital. Physicians were unable to determine what caused the onset of the seizures and she started to receive medication and supplemental oxygen through a Bi-PAP device. Edna was then transferred to Kindred Hospital New Jersey – Wayne to receive respiratory therapy and rehabilitation.
Read More
At the beginning of her stay, Edna required nearly complete assistance from her caregivers for all her needs but made steady progress every day with her respiratory team until she was able to have her supplemental oxygen discontinued altogether. Her nursing team encouraged her daily to eat so she wouldn’t have to have a feeding tube placed and Edna was successful in this area of her recovery as well.
She also worked with her physical and occupational therapists to regain her ability to walk and take care of her daily needs, and loved interacting with her caregivers and other staff. By the time she was ready to be discharged to the nursing home, Edna had made excellent gains in all areas.
“We are so glad that she came here where we knew she would be in good hands,” expressed a family member. “We are so thankful to each and every one of the staff for treating her like family. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Clifton
"Kindred and the great people there helped to ease me back into the general world."
Clifton is a retired veteran and professor whose hobbies include learning more about his heritage, writing and following politics. Although he is a below-the-knee amputee, Clifton lives independently and enjoyed participating in the activities of normal life until he began experiencing severe swelling throughout his body and feeling extremely weak. At the hospital he was diagnosed with acute chronic kidney disease and heart failure and he began treatment with medication to stabilize his condition.
Read More
Once he had been stabilized he was transferred to Kindred Hospital New Jersey – Wayne to receive extensive physical and occupational therapy, cardiac monitoring and ongoing medication therapy. At the beginning of his stay Clifton needed full assistance from his team of caregivers for all his needs and was very debilitated from his ordeal, but he was positive and motivated and loved interacting with staff and sharing stories. From the beginning of his stay Clifton put his all into his recovery and was determined to recover enough to be able to go home.
Clifton’s physical and occupational therapists helped him make progress every day, and he was so motivated to recover he continued to exercise in his room after his therapy sessions. His team of caregivers surprised Clifton on the day of his birthday with a balloon, cake and of course, the birthday song!
After being at Kindred for just under a month, Clifton had progressed to being able to transfer in and out of bed and his chair without any help, stand once again with some assistance, and he was able to take care of all his daily needs and regain his independence. Originally scheduled to be discharged to a rehab facility, Clifton had made so much progress he was able to meet his goal and return home.
“Kindred and the great people there helped to ease me back into the general world,” Clifton said. “I now look forward to going back home in my powered wheelchair, bumping doorframes and competing with my neighbor’s dog in the parking lot chasing squirrels.”
John
Everyone Worked Together
John was working on his farm. He hopped off his tractor to shut a gate and his tractor kept moving.
“I tried to jump on it, like a dummy, and fell,” John said. “The tractor ran over me.”
Read More
He was immobilized with broken bones, fractured ribs and a punctured lung.
“Somehow I was able to wiggle around and get the cell phone out of my pocket,” he said. He called his wife, and within an hour a medical helicopter was taking him to a short-term acute care hospital.
He stayed there in the Intensive Care Unit for seven weeks and was then admitted to Kindred Hospital.
“Really, by that point he was still in critical condition,” his wife said. “He was totally dependent on a ventilator to breathe. The people at the hospital had done everything they could – we just needed to go somewhere where they had expertise in caring for vent patients.”
Almost immediately, the caregivers at Kindred Hospital began rehabilitation therapy and the process of weaning John from the ventilator.
“He had been on his back for seven weeks, and gradually they kept having him do a little more at a time,” his wife said. “The walking helped him strengthen his lungs.”
“I felt like I was making progress, absolutely,” John said. “I’d heard of Kindred before, but I didn’t really know what they did.”
Six weeks later, John was released to home care to fully recover.
“By the time we left, he was walking, breathing, swallowing and eating,” his wife said. “And it was the teamwork that was great.”
“The care was excellent,” John said. “Everybody knew what they were doing and everybody worked together.”
“Just excellent.”
Mr. N
Great Strides Toward Recovery
Mr. N, 54, came to Kindred Hospital in January 2009 after a bad bout of pneumonia had sent him into acute respiratory failure. He arrived at Kindred after treatment at a local short-term acute care hospital left him on a ventilator for two months. Mr. N had lived for 13 years at home under tracheostomy home care and nocturnal ventilation, requiring an oxygen level of 40 percent.
Read More
Upon admission, Mr. N began immediate treatment not only for acute respiratory failure, but also for a bad case of recurring cellulitis in his lower right leg. He was monitored daily by a primary care physician, a pulmonologist and the wound care team.
In just three weeks, Mr. N was weaned off the vent. By the end of his stay, his required oxygen level was down to 30%.
Mr. N also received IV antibiotic therapy and topical medications as part of his wound care treatment program. Within only 14 days, his painful cellulitis and ulcerations had vastly improved.
With his wounds significantly healed and his new independence from the ventilator, Mr. N began working diligently with Kindred’s rehabilitation staff to get back on his feet.
After just six weeks of medical treatment and physical rehabilitation at Kindred, Mr. N. left breathing on his own and able to walk. Having made huge strides toward recovery at Kindred Hospital, Mr. N was transferred to a skilled nursing facility for continued rehabilitation in the hopes of an eventual return home.