Concierge: Marialcira Hernandez
Patient’s Age: 66 years old
Admission Date: 07/24/2021
Discharge Date: 10/13/2021
Discharged To: Home
Reason for Stay: Cellulitis, gout

Details of Experience:

Mr. Santiesteban is a 66-year-old retired male who resides in a one-story home with his wife. He loves listening to music, playing on his computer, and watching the news on TV. He presented to the Emergency Room at West Kendall Baptist Hospital on July 7th with bilateral lower leg extremity swelling and pain for one week. During the prior week, he visited Baptist Hospital in Miami and received a prescription of oral antibiotics. He had improvement with the swelling, but the pain continued and became worse. He decided to return to the hospital. During his evaluation, the patient reported a history of gout, and after performing routine labs and tests, it was found he was experiencing a gout episode. After two weeks at the hospital, Mr. Santiesteban was discharged with a therapy recommendation in a skilled nursing facility. He and his family discussed the options with the Social Worker and decided to go to Palmetto Subacute Care Center.

Mr. Santiesteban was admitted to Palmetto Subacute Care Center on July 24th. Upon his initial evaluation by the Nursing Team, he reported having generalized discomfort and pain that didn’t allow him to move in bed. The nurse immediately evaluated him to provide appropriate methods to ease his discomfort and pain. When the patient expressed being more comfortable, the Concierge, Social Worker, and Rehab Team welcomed the patient to Palmetto. In the initial evaluation by Rehab, Mr. Santiesteban expressed a lot of limitations with his functional activities and activities of daily living (ADL’s) caused by generalized pain. In the functional assessment, he required total dependence without support to initiate during bed mobility, transfers, and gait. Prior to his hospitalization, he was able to ambulate and perform his ADLs independently.

Mr. Santiesteban and the Team established goals and a treatment plan that included therapeutic exercises and activities, neuromuscular reeducation, self-care management training, gait training, and manual techniques. Day after day, Mr. Santiesteban was improving. His hard work, commitment, and perseverance paid off. He showed gains in lower extremities, motor strength improved, the patient was able to perform functional transfers with standby assistance, gait pattern improved to 150 feet using a rolling walker with standby assistance, and he was able to perform his ADL’s with minimal assistance.

Mr. Santiesteban was discharged on October 13th to his home with an excellent prognosis. He expressed being pleased with the care and therapy he has received. Palmetto Subacute staff is proud of Mr. Santiesteban!!

We want to wish him all the best and healthy life!!

Concierge: Marialcira Hernandez
Patient’s Age: 73 years old
Admission Date: 08/10/2021
Discharge Date: 09/09/2021
Discharged to: Home
Reason for stay: Left pelvic fracture

Details of Experience:

Mrs. Haedo is a 73 years old female admitted to Palmetto Subacute Care Center on 08/10/21 due to a left pubic ramus fracture. She was in a motor vehicle crash on 08/07/21, resulting in a hospital stay from 08/07/21 to 08/10/21 at Kendall Regional Medical Center. After evaluation with the Orthopedist at the hospital, no surgical intervention was recommended, and the patient would benefit from skilled physical therapy. Mrs. Haedo, the Hospital’s Social Worker, and her family discussed her options and chose Palmetto Subacute for her rehabilitation stay.

Upon arrival, Mrs. Haedo was greeted by the Concierge, Social Worker, Nurse, and Rehabilitation Team. At the time of the evaluation, she presented with functional decline, as evidenced by increased assistance by caregivers with her activities of daily living (ADL’s), decreased functional bed mobility, transfers, ambulation, decreased sitting and standing static and dynamic balance and strength. She did all the activities with maximum assistance and was unable to ambulate. Before the accident, Mrs. Haedo was able to perform her ADL’s and ambulate independently and reside in her home with family.

Mrs. Haedo and her family discussed with the team her care plan and goals. Treatment started immediately. The treatment approach included therapeutic exercises, neuromuscular reeducation, gait training therapy, therapeutic activities, and self-care management training.

Mrs. Haedo enjoyed her journey at Palmetto and loved to participate in the activities scheduled by our Activity Department. She also enjoys watching TV, listening to instrumental music, and reading the newspaper. She demonstrated a lot of commitment, good rehab potential, and strong family support.

Mrs. Haedo was discharged to home on 09/09/2021 with a recommendation of home health services and a home exercise program. Upon discharge, Mrs. Haedo had gains in strength that improved her ability to perform all functional transfers with contact guard assistance, bed mobility tasks with stand-by assistance, and 90 feet total gait distance using a rolling walker on a level surface with contact guard assistance. She also performs her ADL’s safely and efficiently with supervision.

The Palmetto Subacute Care Center team is very proud of Mrs. Haedo’s commitment to achieving her goals! We are going to miss you!

Concierge: Marialcira Hernandez
Patient’s Age: 90 years old
Admission Date: 05/22/2021
Discharge Date: 07/20/2021
Discharged to: Home
Reason for stay: fractured left hip.

Details of Experience:
Mrs. Berra is a 90-year-old female who resides in an apartment by herself and is able to do activities of daily living (ADL) with independence and ambulate using a Rolling walker. On May 6th, 2021, she was admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital Emergency Room complaining of left hip pain. She reported that she fell earlier while walking to the restroom. She dragged herself to the phone and called her son. Her son arrived at her apartment and called fire rescue. After the evaluation, the XR hip showed a fracture of the left hip. She went to surgery on May 10th, 2021, and stayed at the Hospital until May 22nd, 2021. She was referred by the hospital to a Rehabilitation Center, and she and her family chose Palmetto Subacute Care Center.

Mrs. Berra was admitted to Palmetto on May 22nd, 2021. She was greeted and evaluated by the Concierge, Nursing Team, Dietitian, and Social Worker. She also received a complete evaluation by the Rehabilitation Team. She was able to ambulate five feet with a Rolling walker with maximum assistance. She also required maximum assistance for transfer and bed mobility. The patient needed Physical and Occupational Therapy in order to improve her range of motion, increase strength and enable her to perform transfers, ADL’s and ambulation back to an independent level using the Rolling walker.

Mrs. Berra established her goals and expectations with the team and started her care plan immediately. Every day she waited for her therapy sessions with enthusiasm and completed each exercise that was indicated. Mrs. Berra was very sociable in the community, and she made her needs known. She enjoys painting, listening to music, watching movies on Netflix, and reading the newspaper. Mrs. Berra’s family was involved in her care and gave her support during her journey at Palmetto.

Upon discharge, July 20th, she was able to ambulate 150 feet with a standby assist and a Rolling walker. She also performed bed mobility and transfers with standby assist and most of her ADLs with contact guard assist or supervision. Mrs. Berra was discharged to her home with a recommendation of home health services and a home exercise program. She was happy and very excited to return to her home and expressed gratitude to all the staff for the dedication and love she received during her journey.

Thank you, Mrs. Berra, for choosing Palmetto. You will always be part of our family!

Concierge: Marialcira Hernandez
Patient Age: 80 years old
Admission Date: 06/09/2021
Discharge Date: 07/14/2021
Discharged To: Home
Reason for Stay: weakness, decreased in strength, difficulty in walking.

Details of Experience:
Mrs. Rodriguez is an 80-year-old female who was positive for COVID-19. She went to the Doctors Hospital’s Emergency Room on 5/19/2021 with fever, chills, nausea, headache, loss of smell, and myalgia after receiving her second dose of Vaccine. She was admitted to the hospital from 5/19/2021 to 06/09/2021 with a primary diagnosis of acute respiratory failure and sepsis due to COVID-19. Once stabilized, she was referred for therapy due to decreased strength, weakness, and difficulty in walking. Her husband referred her to Palmetto Subacute Care Center for Rehabilitation. He was a patient in the Community from February-March 2021. He was very satisfied with his improvement and the quality of care he received, so Mrs. Rodriguez did not hesitate to choose Palmetto for her recovery. 

Mrs. Rodriguez was admitted to Palmetto on 06/09/2021 and was greeted by our Concierge, Admission, and Social Worker teams. She was also evaluated by the Nursing and Rehabilitation team to ensure she was comfortable and established her care plan. She was referred for Physical and Occupational Therapy due to decreased strength, decreased functional mobility requiring more assistance during bed mobility, transfer and gait, poor endurance to activities, decreased balance, difficulty in walking, and pain. She started her journey with moderate assistance in most of her activities of daily living (ADL) and an ambulation of 15 feet with moderate assistance.

While Mrs. Rodriguez was in the community, she enjoyed crossword puzzles, word search, drawing, painting, and watching movies on an iPad provided by the Activities department. She also participated in the annual art contest “Art for Life 2021” and is a very good artist! She created beautiful art pieces that were exhibited in the Community during July. 

Mrs. Rodriguez showed a lot of commitment. She worked very hard with our therapists every day and showed consistent progress towards reaching her goals, and her condition improved. Upon discharge, Mrs. Rodriguez was able to ambulate 110 feet with a Rolling Walker and stand-by assistance. She also required only supervision in most of her ADL’s.

On 07/14/2021, Mrs. Rodriguez was discharged and returned home where she lives with her husband. She was very happy with her decision to choose Palmetto for her rehabilitation needs.

We are very proud and going to miss her.

Concierge: Marialcira Hernandez
Patient Age: 92-years-old
Admission Date: 4/8/21
Discharge Date: 6/14/21
Discharged To: ALF
Reason for Stay: Decline in ADLs, weakness, Dysphagia, and decrease in cognitive-communications skills.

Details of Experience:
Mrs. Sanchez was admitted to Palmetto due to a decline in her activities of daily living (ADL) and generalized weakness. Previously, she was hospitalized at Kendall Regional Medical Center from April 4th to April 8th due to a change in mental status. Mrs. Sanchez decreased strength and required more assistance during bed mobility, transfer, gait, poor endurance to activity, and decreased balance. She was also unable to walk independently. The hospital recommended she transition to a rehabilitation facility to regain her strength. After interviewing several facilities and with the guidance of the hospital’s Social Worker, they decided that Palmetto was the best option.

Mrs. Sanchez showed strong commitment and improved. She had wonderful family support that was very important in her recovery. She worked hard to improve and achieve her goals. Mrs. Sanchez started her journey at Palmetto on April 8th. She was greeted and evaluated by the Nursing Team, Rehabilitation Team, Social Worker, and Concierge. All the staff worked very hard to ensure she felt comfortable and all her needs were met. Mrs. Sanchez communicated to the team that her main goal was to walk again by herself. Her hobbies and pleasures were reading about history, listening to classical music, boleros, coloring, and playing Bingo. She also enjoys chatting with other patients.

During her journey, she required the intervention of Speech Therapy due to Dysphagia and decreased cognitive-communication skills. The team worked with her to assess her swallow function and cognitive-communication skills to safely meet nutrition and hydration needs and improve her safety and independence in ADLs.

Upon discharge, she required less assistance during bed mobility from moderated assistance to supervision. She also requires less assistance during all functional transfers from stand-by assistance to supervision. Gait distance increased from 100ft. to 200ft. using a rolling walker on a level surface with stand-by assistance. In Speech Therapy, Mrs. Sanchez could tolerate a regular diet and thin liquids. She was functioning at baseline for cognitive-communication skills, demonstrating minimal deficits.

Mrs. Sanchez showed a lot of commitment and improved. She had strong family support that was very important in her recovery. She worked hard to improve and achieve her goals. Upon discharge, she required less assistance during bed mobility from moderated assistance to supervision. She also requires less assistance during all functional transfers from stand-by assistance to supervision. Gait distance increased from 100 ft. to 200 ft. using a rolling walker on a level surface with stand-by assistance. In Speech Therapy, Mrs. Sanchez was able to tolerate a regular diet and thin liquids. She is functioning at baseline for  cognitive-communication skills, demonstrating minimal deficits.

Mrs. Sanchez’s family expressed appreciation for the loving care and the improvement she gained during her journey at Palmetto. We are very proud of her!

Concierge: Marialcira Hernandez
Patient Age: 77-years-old
Admission Date: 2/10/21
Discharge Date: 5/21/21
Discharged To: ALF
Reason for Stay: Urinary tract infection, weakness, decrease in strength

Details of Experience:
Mrs. Ambros is a 77 years-old female who lives with her family in a one-story home. Before her hospitalization, she was able to ambulate using a rolling walker with moderate independence. She was also able to bathe independently and required some assistance with dressing. She loves to read the newspaper, listen to music and watch comedy and romantic movies. She is very sociable and loves to chat with staff and other patients. 

Mrs. Ambros was admitted to Palmetto Subacute on February 2 after three days of hospitalization at Baptist Hospital due to a urinary tract infection and enterocolitis. Upon arrival, Mrs. Ambros was evaluated and welcomed by the Unit Nurse, Physical Therapist, Dietitian, and Director of Concierge. After completing her evaluation, the nursing team noticed she required a consultation with a podiatrist, and she was scheduled immediately. Mrs. Ambros was also referred to Therapy due to decreased strength and functional mobility and required more assistance during her activities of daily living (ADL’s). She and her family were highly motivated, involved in her care plan, and expressed their goals and expectations. 

Mrs. Ambros began her treatment immediately, which included therapeutic exercises, neuromuscular reeducation, gait training therapy, application of hot or cold packs, and therapeutic activities. Mrs. Ambros made consistent progress and substantial functional gains in response to skilled interventions. Her functional performance improved as a result of instruction in compensations, modifications, and adaptations. In the beginning, she was able to ambulate five feet with a rolling walker and moderate assistance. The intervention of our wonderful Rehabilitation Team, and her hard work, helped to increase her ability to ambulate to 100 feet using a rolling walker and standby assist. 

On May 21, Mrs. Ambros was discharged after achieving her maximum potential with a home exercise program and home health services recommendation. She was very happy with her progress and achievements. She was also very grateful for the love she received from all the staff and their dedication to making her feel at home.

We are so proud of Mrs. Ambros, and we are going to miss her!

Concierge: Marialcira Hernandez
Patient Age: 84-years-old
Admission Date: 8/25/20
Discharge Date: 4/29/21
Discharged To: Home
Reason for Stay: COVID 19, frequent falls, weakness, concussion, dysphagia

Details of Experience:
Mr. Flores is an 84 years-old male, originally from Nicaragua, married and lives in a one story home with his spouse. He was able to ambulate independently without assistance and perform activities of daily living (ADLs) with independence. He enjoyed his work as a Handyman and enjoys shared time with family. He presents to Palmetto after two previous hospitalizations at Kendall Regional Hospital from 08/01/2020 to 08/16/2020 and Baptist Hospital from 08/20/2020 to 08/25/2020. Mr. Flores was hospitalized the first time, for a concussion with an occipital scalp laceration, due to a fall he had while working. Days after his discharge from Kendall Regional Hospital, he was hospitalized again due to increased confusion and COVID-19. 

Mr. Flores was admitted at Palmetto on 08/25/2020 in our COVID-19 unit with confusion, decreased strength, decrease in functional mobility requiring increased assistance during bed mobility, transfer, and gait, poor endurance to activity, and decreased static and dynamic balance. Mr. Flores also required Speech Therapy, due to dysphagia and cognitive-communicative deficits to restore oral/pharyngeal function, increase activity tolerance for safe oral intake, develop and instruct in compensatory strategies and assess and determine least restrictive diet, improve cognitive-linguistic skills and promote safety awareness and facilitate orientation abilities.

Mr. Flores and his family were always involved in his care plan and worked closely with our Rehabilitation and Nursing Team to achieve the goals that were established at the beginning of his treatment. He enjoyed participating in the activities, doing arts and crafts, playing bingo, watching movies, and talking with other residents. He was a very active and participative resident in the community! Mr. Flores consistently demonstrated potential and motivation to improve and achieve his goals.

After his hard work with our team, Mr. Flores was able to achieve his maximum rehab potential. Gains in lower extremities motor strength improved his abilities to perform all functional transfers with contact guard assistance. Gait patterns improved from 90 feet to 300 feet using a rolling walker. In Speech, he demonstrated marked improvement in swallowing abilities yielding a diet upgrade from pureed to regular with chopped meats. He can communicate his needs during ADLs with supervision and is able to complete activities with minimal assistance from caregivers.

He was so happy with his personal progress and achievements and to return home with his family. We are going to miss Mr. Flores and are very proud of all his accomplishments.

Short Term Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Following COVID

Concierge: Marialcira Hernandez
Patient Age: 93-years-old
Admission Date: 01/22/21
Admitted From: Westchester General Hospital
Discharge Date: 03/04/21
Discharged To: ALF
Length of Stay: 27 days
Reason for Stay: Sepsis and pneumonia

Details of Experience:
Mrs. Mamposo is a 93 years old female who lives with her husband in an Assisted Living Facility (ALF). She was referred to Palmetto from Westchester General Hospital after eight days of hospitalization due to sepsis and COVID-19 pneumonia. She started her journey with Palmetto Center on January 22nd, 2021, in the COVID-19 unit. She was received by the Nursing and Rehabilitation Team, who evaluated and assisted her in ensuring that she felt good and comfortable.

The patient was referred to Physical and Occupational Therapy for decreased strength, functional mobility that required increased assistance during bed mobility, transfer and gait, poor endurance to activity, decreased static and dynamic balance, and pain. Mrs. Mamposo and the team established the care plan according to her needs and goals.

Thanks to the special care of the team, Mrs. Mamposo left the COVID unit for the regular unit on January 30th, 2021. She continued her care and achieved her goals on March 4th, when she was discharged to the ALF.

When Mrs. Mamposo arrived at the facility, she could only take a few steps with moderate assistance. At the time of discharge, she was able to walk 125 feet with a rolling walker and stand-by assist.

The team is very proud of Mrs. Mamposo and wishes her much happiness and health in the company of her family and friends!

Patients Age: 83-years-old
Admission Date: 11/13/20
Admitted From: South Miami Hospital
Discharge Date: 01/30/21
Discharged To: Home
Length of Stay: 78 days
Reason for Stay: COVID-19 +, decrease in strength, mobility, and balance

Details of Experience:
Mrs. Lopez is an 83-year-old fighter. She was admitted to Palmetto from South Miami Hospital on November 13th, 2020 after hospitalization from November 10th to November 13th with a diagnosis of COVID-19. She lives in a private home by herself and performs all her activities of daily living (ADL’s) with Modified Independence and has Home Health Aide services three hours per day for assistance.
Upon admission, she was evaluated by our Nursing and Rehabilitation Team to establish a care plan, answer all of her questions, and ensure all her needs were met. At the time of the evaluation, Mrs. Lopez presented with functional decline, as evidenced by increased assistance by the caregiver in her ADL’s, impaired functional mobility, muscle weakness, impaired sitting/standing static and dynamic balance, placing her at risk falls and further decline in function.

She was receiving special care on our COVID unit, since her admission, until December 10th, 2020, when she had negative test results and was discharged from the COVID unit to our green zone to continue her rehabilitation journey.

Due to the commitment shown by Mrs. Lopez and the hard work of our fantastic Nursing and Rehabilitation Team, she was able to return to her home with significant improvement in her ability to perform all her functional mobility skills, strength, and balance. She reached her prior level of function in her ADLs, and she was able to walk from 75 feet with Contact Guard Assist to 350 feet with Modified Independence with a Rowling walker.

We are very proud of Mrs. Lopez and we wish her good luck!