A Rehabilitation Outreach Team at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare designed to help stroke patients in their recovery has made huge gains according to a hospital report.
The program started in 2016 and since then, it has made over 12,000 home visits—the majority, 10,864 of them, for stroke patients.
The report found at-home rehabilitation is having a positive impact on patients most notably a reduction of inpatient stay days since patients have been able to return home about seven days earlier knowing there would be rehab services at home.
It found stroke patients experienced a 30% increase in work, social and recreational activities and decreased the minutes needed for help.
Speaking on AM800's the Afternoon News; Hospital Research Associate Jennifer Voth says it's proving the team works!
"This is a tremendous team of specialists including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language pathology and they are a team and program that is dedicated to providing intensive rehabilitation services in the home," she says.
Voth explains how the focus now shifts to improve the program, and says "Our next steps now are looking at the efficiency of the program as an early supported discharge service and it is helping patients to return home earlier which is good for the patient and good for the family."
Voth says during the research period alone, improvements were seen in stroke patients.
"What we found at the time of the evaluation was 145 stroke patients completed the 12 week program and they showed significant improves in their ability to independently perform activities of daily living," she says.
The report notes the Rehab Outreach Team is especially helpful for people living outside of Windsor.
In Windsor-Essex, the rate of hospitalizations for stroke patients is among the highest in the province.
— with files from AM800's Patty Handyside