Jason's Success Story
"I know all things are possible, you just have to want it bad enough to get it.”
- Jason
Jason was out on his moped one day when he was struck by a car. He was not wearing a helmet and the car was going 40mph. He suffered many broken ribs, bilateral clavicle fracture and scalp lacerations. When he arrived at the hospital, they had to intubate him. Jason also had a hemopneumothorax that required chest tubes. He experienced issues with the chest tubes, so they had to be removed and replaced a few times. They tried to extubate him because he was having some episodes of vomiting but needed to be reintubated because he couldn’t keep his oxygen levels up.
When Jason arrived at Kindred Northland Hospital (KNH) he was a vent/trach patient with a peg tube and required physical and occupational therapy. He began his weaning trials right away. Jason had some issues with his weaning due to not being able to keep his oxygen levels above 80s. He would often complain of shortness of air and then would be put back on the vent. With the respiratory therapist and nursing staff and a lot of determination on Jason’s part, he was finally able to come off the vent and his trach capped. He was so thankful to all the staff that worked so hard to get him of the vent and breathing on his own.
During his weaning trials he was working with his physical and occupational therapy teams to regain his strength and get back to walking or at least standing. He began by working on a simple task: going from laying to setting on the edge of bed to finally using the set to stand. His first attempt he said, “If only for a minute or two it felt great to stand and stretch.” Jason can now be on a diet and have some food and will continue to be capped as he goes to his next rehab stop.
Care for Complex Conditions
Patients come to our hospitals with serious conditions such as respiratory failure, complex wounds, sepsis, stroke, congestive heart failure, or even a combination of these. Their diagnoses are often complicated by existing health problems like diabetes or COPD. Many of our patients require treatments such as mechanical ventilators, dialysis, or IV therapy.