Judy: Return to an Active Life

Judy lived independently with her husband Henry. An artist, Judy specialized in oil paintings and was actively involved with the hearing impaired community, of which she and her husband are both members. In March, Judy, who has a history of heart disease and hypertension, was admitted to a short-term acute care hospital with progressive breathlessness and severe hypertension.

Judy’s cardiac challenges, hypertension and mechanical ventilation complicated her hospital stay. In addition, her underlying renal disease worsened and she required dialysis.

At the end of her stay at the short-term acute care hospital, Judy still required high intensity medical care. She was transferred to Kindred Hospital Seattle - Northgate for ongoing management of congestive heart failure, pulmonary edema with tracheostomy and mechanical ventilation, dialysis and rehabilitation.

Upon admission to Kindred Hospital, Judy’s plan of treatment was implemented by the Kindred interdisciplinary team. Though hampered by all her medical issues, Judy engaged in her treatment and worked toward recovery. Since Judy and her husband are both deaf, Kindred provided an interpreter so that Judy was able to use American Sign Language (ASL) and lip reading to communicate fully.

Judy worked tirelessly with the rehabilitation and respiratory teams to regain her strength, and was successfully weaned from the ventilator. The dialysis nurse also used ASL, which enhanced Judy’s communication about her care needs.

Judy’s progression at Kindred was amazing. Within 20 days she was able to walk independently, though still requiring ventilation. Days later, she was officially weaned off of the ventilator and was walking up and down the halls. She was also independently able to perform her personal care.

At the end of her stay at Kindred, Judy walked with her husband Henry, dressed in her own clothes he had brought her from home. She smiled and waved to the staff. About a month after discharge, her Kindred caregivers called to check in. They found Judy happily painting, working with the deaf community again, and meeting new friends at the dialysis center.

Kindred Hospital Seattle - Northgate's success is apparent in stories like this as well as in our quality scores – our patients and families rate our quality of care at over 93 percent and 97.6 percent would recommend Kindred.