Paul: Hungry for Recovery

Paul, 44, is a member of his church choir who loves playing the guitar and drums, collecting miniature carsand most of all, eating! Since a car accident a few years before, Paul had undergone a pancreas transplant and had been on dialysis for two years. Then one day in February 2010, Paul began experiencing stomach pains.

He was taken to an Urgent Care Center, diagnosed with septic pneumonia and sent to a short-term acute care hospital. There Paul was placed on a Bi-PAP machine and needed intubation and a vent, then a trach. His condition was grave. His doctors recommended he be transferred to Kindred Hospital Ontario for specialized vent weaning.

Paul was admitted to Kindred on February 25, 2010, suffering from acute respiratory failure with a trach and a vent. While his family was nervous about transferring Paul to long-term acute care, they were instantly put at ease by the pleasant atmosphere – the hospital was filled with flowers – and the kind, attentive staff.

By March 6, after only a few weeks at Kindred, the respiratory team had successfully weaned Paul from the ventilator.

The rehabilitation team was then able to begin physical therapy to increase his strength so that he could walk again. Paul’s physical therapist was able to take him from requiring extensive assistance to get out of bed to being able to walk without an assistive device and even to go up and down stairs.

Paul also received speech therapy to help him regain his ability to talk and eat again, which Paul was especially excited about. By March 25, with the help of his speech-language pathologist, Paul had progressed from being unable to speak and eat due to the trach to being able to speak clearly and tolerate a modified diet.

Paul was an enormous help to the Kindred team in his recovery. He was very motivated to be able to breathe on his own, to walk, talk and eat. His family even brought in some of his Hot Wheels collection to keep him moving forward.

After four weeks at Kindred Hospital Ontario, Paul was discharged on March 26, 2010 to an acute rehab hospital to continue to build upon his rehabilitation progress begun at Kindred.

“Kindred’s care and dedication helped Paul return to his family and his life,” says Paul’s mother.

Kindred Hospital Ontario’s success is apparent in stories like these as well as in our quality scores – our patients and families rate our quality of care at over 95% and 98.8% would recommend Kindred.