Case Study: Bethany Center for Rehabilitation and Healing (July 2020)

Patient’s Name: Ms. McClain
Patient’s Age: 63-years-old
Admission Date: 07/21/20
Admitted From: Vanderbilt Medical Center
Discharge Date: 08/04/2020
Length of stay: 14 days
Discharged To: Home
Reason for Stay: Fluid build-up and ulcers
How did patient hear about Bethany Center for Rehabilitation and Healing? This resident has been a patient with us before and the case worker at Vanderbilt recommended Bethany.


Details of Experience:
All of a sudden Ms. McClain started feeling sick and had sharp pains in her stomach. She was nauseous all the time and often vomited. She became weak in her legs and began holding fluid in her lower legs and abdominal area. The next thing she knew, she was in the hospital, again.

Ms. McClain was admitted to Vanderbilt Medical Center to locate the cause of her stomach pain and to remove the fluid. The doctor there told her she had severe stomach ulcers. They immediately told her that she would need to be put on antibiotics and have some of the fluid removed from her legs. Ms. McClain stated, “as soon as they started removing the fluid and gave me medication to use the bathroom, I started to feel a lot better.”

Ms. McClain was admitted to the Bethany Center on 7/21/20. Upon admission, she was greeted by the nursing supervisor, the concierge, and the admissions team. Ms. McClain has been here two times previously, so she was happy to see some familiar faces when she arrived. She Offered, “when I was admitted to the hospital, I knew where I wanted to go when I discharged, it would be Bethany Center.” Her goal was to keep the fluid off by staying on the correct medication, staying as active as possible, and getting on the correct diet to help with her stomach ulcers.

When she was admitted, Ms. McClain was able to ambulate with her walker about 5 steps at a time, simply due to the fluid build-up in her legs. Our highly-trained therapy team arrived to greet her and complete her initial clinical evaluation. They informed her she would benefit from our PT/OT services to help her regain some strength she may have lost and to be able to return home, safely.

Therapy began working with her right away. Since she was able to walk a bit already, they really wanted to focus on her becoming stronger in her lower body. Therapy began focusing on leg lifts, high knees, and walking up the stairs. Ms. McClain became out of breath quickly but did not give up. Within a week she was able to stand for a longer period of time and was able to ambulate more than double the distance from when she was admitted. Therapy also focused on transfers to the bed and toilet. Ms. McClain really loves to cook and bake for her grandkids, so that was a focus for occupational therapy. They had her cooking and baking pies in our apartment set up in the therapy gym. She said, “I really love doing that, it brought me back to the good old days.”

By week two, she was able to ambulate up and down the hallway, move around in her room and to the bathroom. The concierge and therapists visited with Ms. McClain nearing discharge to see how pleased she was with her visit. She stated, “It was lovely as always, everyone here is so nice and I am starting to feel like myself again.”

We wish the best to Ms. McClain the best as she goes home!