One morning, Carl woke up with severe abdominal pain radiating to his back. He was rushed to an acute care hospital and diagnosed with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm and acute respiratory failure…
Recently, Monty experienced a myocardial infarction, or heart attack, which resulted in acute heart failure. This led to cardiogenic shock, where his organs could not receive enough blood, and hypoxic respiratory failure, where his lungs…
One night, while getting up to use the restroom, he lost his balance and fell, unable to get up. His wife called 911, and he was transported to the hospital. After being admitted, Bhaskar was diagnosed with…
One night while he was sleeping, his wife tried to wake him—only to find him unresponsive. She immediately called 911. Sammy was rushed to an acute care hospital where doctors placed him on a ventilator to help him breathe. He had suffered a…
One morning, Rebeca experienced shortness of breath, which left her struggling to breathe. She activated her Life Alert device to call paramedics, who took her immediately to an acute care hospital. While there, she was diagnosed with…
Fifty-eight-year-old Melissa Cohn enjoys cooking, entertaining friends, and playing cards. However, complications from a bowel perforation cause severe nausea, vomiting, and excruciating abdominal pain, disrupting her…
Jennifer knew something was wrong with her left foot and sought help from three doctors before being referred to the emergency room by a vein doctor. In the ER, Jennifer saw…
Leonard was experiencing shortness of breath and a cough, and was taken to a local hospital where he was placed on a mechanical ventilator to help him breathe. He was diagnosed with…
A full-time employee at his family’s barbecue restaurant, thirty-three-year-old Dedrick Fields’ life took a dramatic turn when he suffered a stroke. He suffered left side weakness and was unable to…
Heart disease can cause complications like heart failure, heart attacks, or strokes. When someone experiences an event like this, long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs) can help.
LTACHs often have cardiovascular programs designed to help patients with chronic or exacerbated cardiac issues like:
- Heart bypass surgery
- Valve replacements
- Abdominal aortic aneurysms
- Complex wound healing … and more.
Patients are referred to LTACHs after initial treatment at “acute care” hospitals when complex medical conditions prevent them from being transferred to lower levels of care, and/or they have more than one serious condition going on.
For example, a patient with heart failure may also be experiencing respiratory failure and could be put on a ventilator to help with breathing.
Heart failure is serious in itself, but now the situation would be even more critical because there’s not enough oxygen passing from the patient’s lungs into the body’s bloodstream. And, the patient would need special medical assistance in healing and weaning from the ventilator.
This is where an LTACH hospital comes in.
LTACH hospitals have specially trained staff and equipment to care for patients with these medically complex needs. Staff members treat situations like this on a daily basis and know how to tailor and provide specialized care to each patient, allowing optimum results and the best chance at recovery.
