William: A Victory

William is a 45-year-old father of two who has been a quadriplegic since a car accident 22 years ago. He was living at home with his caregiver and children when after a day of not feeling his best William began experiencing some respiratory distress. After noticing him coughing and laboring for breath, his caregiver and daughter called 911. William was admitted to a local short-term acute care hospital where his respiratory status declined to the point that he was intubated and placed on a ventilator. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, had developed a urinary tract infection and was in critical condition.

After a two-week period of stabilization of his infection, William was transferred to Kindred Hospital Kansas City for ventilator weaning, wound care and rehabilitation on November 25. Within 10 minutes of arriving at Kindred Hospital Kansas City, William went into cardiopulmonary arrest and had to be resuscitated. The Kindred respiratory team, rehabilitation team, wound care team, doctors and nurses were determined to improve his fragile condition.

The interdisciplinary teams set out a plan of care including multiple IV antibiotic therapy, complex wound management, tube feeding to maintain nutrition and vent weaning. Once he was stabilized they planned to provide restorative care to improve his strength. After 26 days on the ventilator at Kindred, the respiratory team helped William wean from the vent and his tracheostomy tube was removed.

Once William was weaned, rehabilitation began. As he progressed in his work with the rehabilitation team, the speech-language pathologist helped him to discontinue his tube feedings, as he became strong enough to eat on his own.

By the end of his Kindred stay, the wound care team had resolved two of his wounds and a third had improved enough to be managed with home health. On January 19, William had recovered to the point that he was discharged home to his family with home healthcare.

William’s medical journey is another example of the remarkable interdisciplinary efforts by the team at Kindred Hospital Kansas City.