No one expects a totally life-changing event on any given day. That’s the reason the SEARHC transitional-care team wants people to know about their services before they need them.
Marin Donovan, southern regional director of rehabilitation services for Craig, Wrangell and Sitka, explains that their program is the kind of thing people don’t know about until they need it, but when they need it, everything that is happening can be overwhelming.
It’s about education and advocacy skills, providing information and resources, in anticipation of a future need.
Immediate medical care is necessary for strokes, boating accidents, falls, amputations, burns — the kinds of experiences that qualify as “life-changing.” But there is often a period of time after the initial treatment, a transition time when skills that have been diminished by the event need to be relearned, strengthened or adapted before a patient can go home from the hospital.
Donovan, who is based in Sitka, explained that the transitional-care program uses the hospital facilities in communities like Wrangell to allow people to access the occupational, physical and speech therapies needed close to home, rather than being sent to Seattle or Anchorage.
This transitional approach means a patient’s recovery can be integrated through both hospital and home experiences. Staying local means a home assessment can be done and adaptive needs arranged on site. It means being able to have dinner with family or going to church or a movie.
Participating in those family- and community-oriented activities helps patients relearn or improve the skills needed to recover, Donovan said. A skill could be introduced in the hospital, practiced in the home setting, and then refined or changed as needed at the hospital.
The program focuses on practical, daily living skills like getting in and out of bed, getting dressed and cooking, as well as those things that contribute to a person feeling like themselves again, someone who likes to pet their dog, read, fish or play board games.
Transitional care is provided through a Medicare and Medicaid program that “ensures patients receive the right level of support as they transition toward full recovery,” without having to stay longer than necessary in a hospital bed, according to SEARHC’s explanation of the program.
“From building strength after a complex orthopedic surgery to managing conditions like stroke or pneumonia,” the program provides care tailored to each patient’s needs. “Programs like these were associated with significant reductions in the odds of readmissions at 180 days, giving patients a stronger chance at lasting recovery.”
The transitional-care program in Wrangell generally has two to four patients in rotation. Jim Debord, who has been the local occupational and physical rehab therapist for more than 10 years, works with patients so that they can once again navigate their home setting, allowing them to stay in their homes safely.
For information about the program, go to the SEARHC transitional-care website searhc.org/service/transitional-care/ or call 907-874-7000.
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