Watch above: A new convalescent unit in Saskatoon’s City Hospital provides specialized treatment to patients in need of more recovery time.
SASKATOON – It was a summer to remember for 65-year-old Carol Butt but for all the wrong reasons.
On June 19, Butt was admitted to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon with a torn Achilles tendon and broken leg. She would spend several weeks recovering from surgery in an intensive care unit and was home for July.
“I was doing fairly well but I got back home and I contracted an infection that really laid me low and I lost an awful lot of weight and strength and I just couldn’t function,” said Butt.
Butt was admitted to St. Paul’s Hospital due to the infection and as she got closer to being discharged, she was advised of a new convalescent unit at Saskatoon City Hospital that might just fit the bill in helping prepare her to go back home.
“I think it was the best of what you would like in the given situation,” said Butt.
“Nobody likes to be unhealthy but since I was in the situation I was truly grateful for the opportunity that they provided me with to regain my strength and confidence.”
According to Butt, she was the second patient to be admitted to the unit and it was busy.
“We had physiotherapy and we had to go up, not en masse but individuals a couple of mornings to the little kitchen and prepare our own breakfast to make sure that we were able to function,” added Butt.
On Oct. 7, the sixth floor unit began accepting patients and continued to open in phases.
According to Saskatoon Health Region (SHR) officials, so far, four patients have been discharged from the unit including Butt. It’s now at capacity with 28 patients.
“This unit allows us to have specialized space for those clients that need more time to recuperate from their medical or surgical event but aren’t requiring all of the resources of a full-fledged acute care unit,” said Cory Miller, vice president of integrated health services for SHR.
The length of stay for a patient in the unit will vary anywhere from days to weeks.
“We recognize that there may be clients that we admit that meet the criteria to come but they don’t thrive and they don’t move forward and we may have to transition people from time to time back to acute care because they have another medical episode,” explained Miller.
“Or we may have people who transition from this unit, not to home, but to long-term care.”
The unit is not as heavily nursed as others, according to Miller.
“It’s a different model of care. It’s more a therapy-driven model with recreational therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists that are giving the right care to the patient at that stage in their care cycle.”
Prior to the unit opening, health officials said these types of patients were dispersed all over the region’s acute care site. With the opening, those patients will get specialized care specific to where they are in their recovery.
“The risk is if we don’t provide that specialized care we don’t allow people to have the best outcome that they possibly can have which can mean we cascade them into long-term care situation rather than home,” said Miller.
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