Ms. Johnson arrived to PAM Specialty Hospital of New Braunfels on August 8, 2018, on mechanical ventilation after going into acute hypoxic respiratory failure brought on by pneumonia, bilateral pleural effusions and COPD exacerbation. Upon admission, she also required maximal assistance to perform bed mobility, as well as assistance to perform any grooming or lower body dressing activities. She was unfortunately unable to eat or drink or speak. Ms. Johnson’s medical plan with her medical team was to continue ventilator weaning, with an ultimate goal of being completely weaned from the vent and have the trach removed.
Ms. Johnson worked very hard until she met all her goals. On August 21st, only 13 days after arriving at our facility, she was completely liberated from mechanical ventilation and a few days later decannulated. Eventually she was also able to perform her bed mobility with moderate assist, feed herself with only occasional verbal cues, groom with stand by assistance, and even eating soft food and thin liquids!
We are proud to report that Ms. Johnson was eventually discharged on room air! The team at PAM Specialty Hospital of New Braunfels are all very proud of her for all her hard work and determination. “All the staff helped me get to where I am today and they were all very nice.”