Case Study: Palmetto Subacute Care Center (April 2021)

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.