Stroke survivor achieves rehabilitation goals in the Narrogin Hospital Subacute Service
Marie Hancock with WA Country Health Service Senior Speech Pathologist Kira Flynn.
88-year-old Marie Hancock from Narrogin suffered a stroke last year which impacted her ability to eat and drink safely and with rehabilitation in the WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Narrogin Hospital Subacute Service she has achieved her goal of eating without a feeding tube.
“My goal was to transition from my feeding tube to having my meals and drinks orally - especially my coffee,” Marie said.
“I wanted to try to get my body back to how it was before my stroke, or at least as close as possible.”
Following months of therapy to strengthen and re-train Marie’s swallow mechanism, she was able to have her feeding tube removed.
“I am now able to eat cake easily and drink my coffee with no troubles – which is very important because coffee is my absolute favourite drink!”
WACHS Acting Senior Physiotherapist and Subacute Coordinator Stacy Forrest said the Narrogin Hospital Subacute Service has been operating since July 2020 and has so far rehabilitated 28 patients.
“Some of the patients we’ve rehabilitated have had a stroke like Marie, others for orthopaedic rehabilitation following falls or neurological rehabilitation such as Parkinson’s disease or Multiple Sclerosis optimisation,” Ms Forrest said.
“Our subacute service is for inpatients meaning patients are admitted to the ward here in Narrogin.”
“On the ward we have a therapy space (combined gym, outdoor area and kitchen) which is used for both group and individual therapy. Once the patient has achieved their inpatient rehabilitation goals they are discharged and receive care via our outpatient/community service.
“On admission we complete a goal setting session with the patient where we determine their goals which usually include multiple disciplines - for example, Marie’s main goal was to transition to a full oral diet, so she worked with a speech pathologist, but she also wanted to improve her balance and mobility therefore physiotherapy was also involved in her care.
“Marie said she noted an improvement in her walking since working with the physiotherapists,” Ms Forrest said.
According to Marie, going into subacute care at Narrogin Hospital was worthwhile, and she encourages others to consider the service to help them reach their rehabilitation goals.