Hotel-dieu Grace Healthcare stroke outreach program brings rehabilitation to the patients
An in-home stroke patient rehab program offered by Hotel-dieu Grace Healthcare has revealed positive results from its first four years of operation.
On average, stroke survivors have returned home seven days earlier since the rehabilitation outreach team began providing services in 2016, according to the community-based hospital’s first impact report on the program.
“We set out to better meet the needs of our stroke patients and their families,” Janice Kaffer, president and CEO of Hotel-dieu Grace Healthcare, said in a news release Monday. “In 2016, we shifted resources to allow for intensive followup services supporting stroke patients after discharge from our in-patient program — right in their homes.”
So far, the team of 10 rehabilitation specialists has conducted more than 10,000 home visits for patients not able to participate in bi-weekly on-site hospital-based outpatient services. The program has been especially helpful to county residents who may find it challenging to travel to Windsor on a regular basis for 12 weeks following in-patient treatment for a stroke.
Patients who completed the outpatient home program required, on average, 24 fewer minutes of help from another person on a daily basis, the report says. Those individuals also experienced a 30 per cent increase in engagement in work, social and recreational activities, and saw a 14 per cent improvement in quality of life.
The local region’s rate of acute hospitalizations due to stroke is among the highest in the province. In 2017, 538 people were admitted to hospital for an acute stroke or transient ischemic attack, the report states.
Hotel-dieu Grace Healthcare offers in-patient rehabilitation for approximately 35 per cent of the region’s stroke patients each year. That includes up to three hours of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy every day.
After completing in-patient rehab, patients can participate in the outpatient rehabilitation program, which involves the patient visiting Hotel-dieu Grace Healthcare for rehabilitation twice per week for approximately 12 weeks. Otherwise, they can receive in-home rehab from the rehabilitation outreach team.
The program consists of three or four at-home rehab sessions per week, with the number of sessions and type of therapy customized to meet patient needs and goals. The program team includes a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, a speech language pathologist, certified rehab assistants, a registered nurse and a social worker.
In 2016, we shifted resources to allow for intensive followup services supporting stroke patients.