Box Butte General Hospital: Services- Swing Beds.

Recent activities occurring in the Box Butte General Hospital Bridges to Home swing bed program include:

(Please note: The information below is an overview of our Bridges to Home program. For more up-to-date information on activities, please refer to the links at the top of this page.)

BBGH swing bed service renamed Bridges to Home

Box Butte General Hospital (BBGH) has offered a swing bed program for many years as part of its commitment to the recovery and care of patients no longer requiring acute care in a hospital setting, but who still need additional therapy before they can return home.

To highlight the fact that many swing bed patients DO eventually return to a home setting after using the service, it was announced that BBGH recently decided to rename its swing bed service to “Bridges to Home.

People who would need or benefit from the Bridges to Home program are acute care patients who have obtained a level of recovery where hospitalization is no longer necessary, but they are still not able to go home due to physical limitations. Acute care can be defined as a pattern of health care in which a patient is treated for a brief but severe episode of illness, for injuries from an accident or other trauma, or during recovery from surgery.

Here are some examples of what would qualify a client for Bridges to Home:

• Recovering from surgery, such as having a joint replacement, vascular or abdominal procedures
• Recovering from a major accident or stroke
• In need of pain management
• In need of wound care due to wounds not healing
• In need of nutritional therapy
• In need of other therapies, such as respiratory therapy or urology care

Clients in need of Bridges to Home must have skilled care seven days per week, and those requiring therapy must have therapy at least five days per week, at minimum, in order to meet Medicare guidelines. Another aspect of the program requires clients to gradually show documented progress, week to week. Medicare clients need three consecutive days of medically necessary acute care to qualify for the Bridges to Home program.

In order to be admitted to Bridges to Home, you must meet the following Medicare guidelines:

• You must have at least a three day stay as an acute care patient during the past 30 days before going on the swing bed program
• If you have been discharged home you can still qualify for Bridges to Home if you stayed in the hospital for acute care at least three days in the last 30 days.
• You must need ongoing monitoring and require skilled nursing or rehabilitative services on a daily basis.
• There are no age restrictions to the program.
• The swing bed program is routinely considered for patients who have had hip or knee surgery. Those recovering from stroke, cardiac or respiratory illnesses, etc.
• Patients needing IV therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, etc.

Clients of Bridges to Home care are unique, each having needs that require treatments tailored to their care. Determination of those needs is met by the patient’s health care provider, in tandem with representatives from many departments within the hospital. Those departments could include:

• Skilled Nursing
• IV Therapy
• Physical Therapy
• Occupational and Speech Therapy
• Social Services
• Dietary Consultation
• Patient and Family Education
• Pharmacy

A huge component for making the Bridges to Home program a success is The Rehab and Wellness Center’s staff. The staff’s top priority is to assist patients in regaining the level of function they had prior to requiring acute care at the hospital. They do so through intensive therapeutic sessions tailored to meet the needs of the Bridges to Home client, using the latest training and knowledge available to obtain that goal as swiftly as possible.

The final stage of the Bridges to Home program involves an in-home evaluation of the client and his or her environment, conducted prior to the client’s discharge.

The benefits of this program are many. Here is a listing of just a few of the way Bridges to Home can work for you.

• Patients avoid added expense and inconvenience of transferring to a skilled nursing facility for extended care.
• You stay in the hospital under care of the same staff, just like during your stay in acute care.
• You have more time to recover and gain strength before leaving the hospital
• Daily therapy is centered on self care skills and body strengthening which will increase your independence when you leave.
• You have continued access to your medical provider and the hospital’s services like lab and x-ray.
• Should the need arise, you can return to acute care and remain in the same room.
• BBGH accepts clients into Bridges to Home from other hospitals to continue their rehabilitation closer to home.
• The program also provides skilled care while clients wait for appropriate placement elsewhere, such as a nursing home or assisted living facility.

To inquire about the Bridges to Home program, please contact the swing bed coordinator at 308.762.4357, Ext. 3376.

(Please note: The information below is an overview of our Bridges to Home program. For more up-to-date information on activities, please refer to the links at the top of this page.)

Last updated 08/05/09