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Extended Care Facility Enhances Quality of Life for Residents
by Delaine Humphreys, Family Resource Center

Have you ever wondered what people meant when they talked about Lower Umpqua Hospital's "extended care facility"? Extended Care is a unit of Lower Umpqua Hospital that provides long-term care for people in our area.

Long-term care may last from several weeks to a permanent placement. Long-term care is sometimes needed after surgery or an acute illness when a person no longer qualifies for acute hospital care, but requires additional therapies or nursing that is best administered in the hospital. This could be care that involves IV therapy, close monitoring of medications and lab work, or complicated wound care. This is classified as "skilled nursing care" and is covered by Medicare.

Another service available to the community is short-term respite care for in-home caregivers who need a break. The Extended Care unit also works closely with Hospice to provide in-facility care for Hospice patients when they can no longer be at home.

The main function of long-term care is providing on-going care for those who are no longer able to stay in their own homes. They become residents and live at Lower Umpqua Hospital Extended Care for the rest of their lives. It becomes their home, and the staff becomes like family to them.

Various health specialists provide nursing care twenty-four hours a day to the residents. Certified Nursing Assistants are the valuable front-line caregivers, providing much of the daily basic care.

Restorative Aides receive extra training and work with the hospital's therapists to carry out a restorative program once the acute therapy has been completed. It is the goal of the Lower Umpqua Hospital Extended Care staff to help all residents regain or maintain some of their ability to care for themselves.

Certified Medication Aides pass medications. Each has taken a Medication Aide Class and passed an Oregon State Board of Nursing test to become certified. They are the in-house experts on passing medications.

Nurses are on duty twenty-four hours a day. They have many responsibilities: assessing the physical status of residents; coordinating, monitoring, and assisting in the care of the residents; contacting the physicians and carrying out their orders for medications and treatments for each resident. The Resident Care Manager is an RN who oversees, completes, and submits all the mandatory paperwork that is required by regulating agencies. A Director of Nursing oversees staffing, budgeting, implementing of policies and procedures, coordinating admissions and discharges, and monitoring the general operation of the unit.

An Activities Director works with the residents to provide materials and activities to help residents find meaningful ways to spend their time. Volunteers make up a vital part of the Lower Umpqua Hospital Extended Care program and provide contact with the community outside of the facility.

A Social Services Director helps residents and their families adjust to a long-term care living environment, assists with counseling if problems arise, and helps some residents with monies and day-to-day needs. A main focus of the Extended Care Unit is to help residents maintain their rights and ensure that they are treated with dignity and respect.

Lower Umpqua Hospital's dietary department takes a resident's individual food likes and dislikes plus their nutritional needs into account when they plan meals. Menus are provided by the week so that individual choices can be made.

Housekeeping and maintenance personnel keep the facility clean and operating smoothly. These staff members are parts of the Extended Care family and know each resident by name.

Rooms in the Extended Care unit have recently been updated and each room has a nice view of the patio or the lawn where the deer visit almost daily. Families are encouraged to personalize the rooms to make them as homelike as possible.

Having the Extended Care unit connected with the hospital has many advantages including the availability of laboratory, radiology, and Emergency Room services. Physicians are available daily as needed as well. Therapists have an established rapport with the residents having treated them as outpatients, hospital patients and through Home Health as necessary.

For more information about the long term care services available at Lower Umpqua Hospital, call Karen Gehrke at 271-2171, ext. 246. And isn't it great to know that when the time comes to choose a long-term care facility, one can be sure that Lower Umpqua Hospital can provide everything needed...right here at home.

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