An in-depth look at Post-Acute Rehabilitation

The rehabilitation supporting recovery from a brain injury happens in many stages. In the initial stage, families and treatment providers focus on urgent medical needs and work to establish basic functions like communicating and moving. These first rehabilitation goals emphasize the development of very basic skills and stabilization of medical adjustment. At some point, a person with a brain injury no longer requires the nursing support and constant vigilance of the medical hospital setting, but may not be ready to resume living at home with family, or manage the demands of community living without accommodations. This is the step for post-acute transitional living.

In other cases, a person may have been successful at one style of living, such as home with family, and are ready to make progress and learn new skills that allow them to take on new challenges, such as living in the community with some structured support. A post-acute rehabilitation program can help with these transitions as well.

Sojourners and East Lansing House, Hope Network Rehabilitation Services programs, are examples of such post-acute rehabilitation settings. Persons with brain injuries, and sometimes with complicated orthopedic and spinal cord injuries, use the supervised support of a post- acute setting to make gains necessary for the passage from hospitalization to the community. Post-acute transitional living can function as a place to

establish a style of living that supports rehabilitation and recovery. While Sojourners and East Lansing House are licensed as Adult Foster Care homes, they serve as special training environments, where support for basic care needs are combined with specialized rehabilitation strategies and training in a supportive, therapeutic environment. Supervision, oversight, and the close involvement of interdisciplinary therapies are integrated in strategies developed around the specific needs of each resident. The setting, while not quite like home, is often experienced as a welcome change from the hospital, as the familiar routines of meals, self-care, productivity, leisure, and rest are reestablished. Gradually, residents are exposed to challenges, community activities, and therapeutic opportunities consistent with their goals.

Residents admitted to Sojourners and East Lansing House can expect an initial period of extended evaluation and treatment, which typically lasts two weeks. During this time, goals supported from previous treatment are sustained and evaluation strategies allow development of new plans for the next phase of recovery and the development of a post-injury lifestyle. Residents and their families can expect to be included in an Evaluation Review meeting in this early stage of treatment to refine expectations and develop plans and treatment strategies that support a transition beyond the present challenges.