Success Stories

At the time of admission, he required maximum assistance with bed mobility, needed complete care for grooming and hygiene, and required a Hoyer lift to transfer to a chair. He also required a tube feeding to meet his nutritional needs.

Vai Vai grew very motivated to discharge prior to his and his daughter’s shared birthday on May 9th. Through his determination and with the skills of Kindred’s rehabilitation, respiratory and nursing staff under the leadership of his physician, he was able to do just that.

Soon after admission, Vai Vai was liberated from the mechanical ventilator and was able to breathe on his own. At discharge, he was walking short distances without any assistance, he was able to eat a regular diet on his own, and hecould look forward to enjoying birthday cake with his daughter. To celebrate his miraculous recovery and express his thanks, he sang a song of thankfulness to his care team just before leaving.

He was admitted to Kindred Hospital a month later with the goal of liberating him from ventilator dependence and to continue the care he needed i to return to the life he enjoyed prior to this illness. The treatment team at Kindred along with Gregory’s very supportive sisters rallied to help provide him the motivation to fight and recover.

Working with our pulmonologists and respiratory therapists, Gregory was successfully liberated from the ventilator on August 20th with his tracheostomy tube removed shortly thereafter. With the assistance of our rehabilitation team he progressed to the point that he was able to walk with the help of a cane,regained his voice, and he was able to eat to a regular diet.

Gregory has a wonderful personality and his diligent effort to recover was an inspiration to staff and other patients. He was discharged to a rehabilitation center in early September to continue his journey home.

During her three month stay on the long-term acute care unit, the wound care team successfully healed the graph sites that had been open for nearly two years. Her other wounds were nearly healed and she was ready to continue aggressive rehabilitation and treatment in our co-located sub-acute unit.

Initially when Donna transferred to the sub-acute unit, she had a tendency to self isolate and would spend most hours with her sleep mask on and no lights on in the room. She had a very difficult time listening to any positive conversation about her rehabilitation. Her physical therapist and occupational therapist continued to speak with her about her goal to return home. “I want to go home. I have not been home in almost 3 years.”

To encourage Donna, the therapists told her, “If your goal is to go home, you will need to work very hard to build strength and endurance. You will need to manage sitting on the edge of the bed, getting into a wheelchair, being able to be up for a period of time in your power wheelchair.” As the therapists continued to encourage Donna she made small decisions to listen and participate. Donna would respond to the “cheerleader” approach. She began to smile and mention that maybe going home could be more than a dream.

Our Activities Director encouraged Donna to build a terrarium and participate more in her life. That motivated Donna to go outside and sit in the sunshine on the patio. She decided it was time to focus and go home. Within weeks she was up daily in her power wheelchair, out in the sunshine, and participating daily in activities with others.

Donna made her dream come true. She discharged home! Kindred’s staff was thrilled to help Donna discover that returning home was more than just a dream.

Our Respiratory therapists worked with Gary from admission to help liberate him from the ventilator. He was weaned from the ventilator within two weeks of admission. He continued to improve his ability to breathe on his own so that the tracheostomy tube could be removed about two weeks later.

Gary sustained injuries affecting his ability to move his arms or legs. Additionally, he required alternative feeding, total assist for care needs, and cueing for strategies to engage in his environment.Partnering with the rehabilitation team he made significant progress. Speech pathology worked with him to help him regain the ability to clearly voice his needs and wants and to safely swallow an oral diet. Occupational therapy worked with him to improve his participation in his care so that he was able to assist in grooming and dressing tasks and achieve the ability to feed himself. Physical therapy worked with him to regain the ability to stand and participant in pivot transfers and to maintain sitting balance and trunk control as well as the ability to steer and propel a manual wheelchair. The entire team helped Gary to improve his physical endurance and tolerate a more aggressive rehabilitation program.

Gary’s progress here was instrumental in his attaining a placement in an in-patient rehabilitation center for further aggressive intervention so that he can get back to his loving and supportive family.

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.”