Success Stories

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.”

She was admitted to Kindred on February 16 for ventilator weaning and management of conditions complicating her hospitalization including diabetes mellitus, hypertension, diverticulitis, deconditioning and a sacral decubitus ulcer.

On February 28, she was placed on the weaning protocol. The speech-language pathologist started her with a Passy Muir valve in-line with the ventilator on March 2.

The next day, she was started on TTAV (trans-tracheal augmented ventilation), per the weaning protocol, so she could speak during her weaning sessions. She progressed steadily and gained strength with the addition of aggressive physical and occupational therapy and speech-language pathology for the next two weeks.

On March 15, Vicenta was weaned from the ventilator. On March 18, she was decannulated and her tracheostomy tube was removed. She was discharged on March 23 to acute rehab with a plan for ultimately going home. By this time, she had made good functional gains in occupational therapy, was able to complete basic activities of daily living, was ambulating 60 feet, and was swallowing pureed foods.

We look forward to a visit from Vicenta and her family in the near future.