A medical institution in Kingston, Ont., that helps patients transition from a hospital to their homes is celebrating a big milestone.
It’s been one year since the Providence Transitional Care Centre opened.
The care centre, which is located in the former St. Mary’s of the Lake building on Union Street, has seen great success since opening, according to Darcy Woods-Fournier, director of transitional care.
“We have alleviated many beds in use in acute care that needed to be served by individuals who may have had COVID, they needed that space, certainly,” she said.
Woods-Fournier said that over the first year, they’ve helped 234 patients transition, mainly from hospitals, to their facility, then home.
Many of the patients are older people who may have had surgery, or were in hospital for other ailments, then needed time to adjust to life outside the hospital before returning to independent living.
Lynn LaPorte is a current patient.
She arrived on Sept. 8 after being discharged from hospital following surgery to repair breaks in both of her legs.
“It’s been wonderful, the staff is amazing, they work so hard, so, yeah, I love it,” she said.
LaPorte says her days consist of getting up, eating and mostly going outside with a friend she made at the facility to roll around the property.
When she’s not enjoying leisure time, she’s working on her recovery.
“We’re getting up there, we’re standing a little bit longer every day, getting stronger every day,” said LaPorte.
Over the past year, the transitional care centre has seen 65 per cent of patients return home, 10 per cent go to retirement homes or long-term care and just 13 patients go to providence care hospital for higher intensity rehabilitation.
As for the next year, Woods-Fournier says it’s all about building on the first year’s successes.
“We do have some additional beds to fill here, so we’re absolutely looking to fill them, and we’re going to be evaluating the population that we’ve served to make sure we hit the mark,” she added.
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