By: Jean Johnson for Back1 Part One
It can happen to anyone, although losing one’s mobility is generally associated with advancing years. How the medical profession manages the problem, though, has given more than one person pause.
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Most hospital rehab units provide care for:
Stroke
Brain injury
Spinal cord injury
Arthritis
Guillain Barre
Orthopedic conditions
Other neurological conditions
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What happens? Where do they put us when all of a sudden we find ourselves trapped in a body that doesn’t function—unable to stand or even hold a drink of water, hands twisted up into useless clutches. Sounds awful, but it’s a nightmare hundreds of thousands if not millions experience at some point in their lives. Let’s take a glimpse into the medical system itself and see how things work. Find out what happens to people when they find themselves hopelessly and helplessly dependent on the system. In the process we met a patient whose travels through a debilitating fall and subsequent recovery we’ll follow in a separate story devoted to her progress. We also met a physician – a rehab doc, Molly Hoeflich, M.D. It’s her work based on close to two decades in the field that we’ll profile here.
Hoeflich looks to be forty-something with her coppery hair cut into a longish pixie and her full complement of energy. So she must have been quite the stand out 19 years ago when Providence Medical Center entrusted her with the directorship of its rehabilitation unit. She takes obvious pride in showing us around her creation – a hospital ward full of thoughtful designs geared toward enabling folks whose bodies aren’t fully cooperating to make the most of their chances for improvement.
”The focus is getting patients up and out of bed,” said Hoeflich (Hay-flick). Her Irish heritage shows in her ruddy complexion. She wears a long floral skirt in oranges and corals and pinks plus a sleeveless top to match – the ensemble bright enough to inspire the most disheartened patient. Then there’s a strand of knotted pearls and earrings to match that compose her attire and underscore that Hoeflich is indeed the physician in charge.
“There’s no ‘well gee, I’d like to lie around today,’” she said commenting on staff expectation of patients.’” Through her the clear oval lenses of her glasses, her hazel eyes evidence a wisdom that only 19 years directing the rehabilitation unit could bring. “Obviously when people get sick, we don’t force them, but we do have them up as much as they can tolerate.”
The director takes obvious pride in the center she has been instrumental in building. She points out that the rehabilitation unit will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, and even more significantly, noted that “on average if you look at our stats and compare them to regional and national norms, our patients improve functionally faster than others do. Also our average stay is around 10 days, which is shorter than most units. But our patients tend to go home better than others do.”
“In Oregon we are on the leading edge of innovation for community services – adult foster homes and assisted living facilities,” Hoeflich continued. “So the real heart and soul of what I do here is change the disposition for patients and provide them with reasonable recovery and discharge plans. We are in their corner and help them find the least restricting environment.”
She admits that in some cases people are up and out of the unit before they’ve quite come to terms with what’s happened to their bodies. “The downside is that adjustments to disability take time. We as a clinic like to be part of that, but people don’t actually need to be here. I follow them once they leave, and if they are struggling, I refer them to a counselor,” she said. “We have outstanding therapists that work with patients both at home and on an outpatient basis, and I have a lot of confidence in them.”
OK, sounds reasonable. If someone ends up back home without the emotional wherewithal to manage, they can count on Hoeflich’s team. But what’s going on at the Providence hospital that makes for such speedy turnarounds in the first place?
Continued in Part Two
