Meadowbrook Care Center: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Rehab

You may find yourself in the position of having to choose between your being discharged to your home or to Meadowbrook Care Center, a rehabilitation facility, to recover after accident, illness, or medical procedure.   Research tells us that you recover faster and have better medical outcomes when put in a facility that focuses on rehab.

The staff working at Meadowbrook Care Center, a 280 bed facility providing 24 hours extended care in an environment to specially created to enhance daily living, are goal oriented.  Patients admitted to this facility include those recovering from joint replacement surgery, a stroke, or a fall or injury that required hospitalization. They usually require more nursing care than is generally provided in a traditional skilled nursing home, but only for a short period of time during which attainable goals, created by an interdisciplinary health care team, are set and achieved.

The patient’s rehabilitation, over seen by an interdisciplinary health care team, including physical therapists, physicians, nutritionists, and nurses, work together to develop an individualized care plan to get the patient back into their home as smoothly and quickly as possible.

At the Freeport, New York-based Meadowbrook Care Center, physical therapists help the short-term patients learn how to use walking devices, and wheel chairs, even providing strength training, and fine tuning the person’s motor skills.  The assist a patient to also master daily activities, like bending over, sitting or lying down.

At this rehabilitation facility, occupational therapists provide also tips to patients about preparing meals, dressing, especially while using walking devices or wheelchairs.  The therapists also assist in promoting social interactions in the dining room or in public places that a theater or shopping at stores.

Speech therapists will assist the patient at Meadowbrook Care Center to strengthen tongue, lips, and other necessary muscles for speech and to assist in helping a person swallow and drink.

Along with skilled nursing services provided, Meadowbrook Care Center’s rehabilitation services include: respiratory therapy, post-surgical care (including hip and knee replacements; intravenous therapy, specialized wound care, palliative care, short-term and outpatient rehabilitation services, ventilators and residential and inpatient hospice services.

Be aware that care that does not qualify as skilled care will not be covered by Medicare.  Short-term rehab can last as long as a few days up to 100 days, which is the cutoff date for when Medicare will cover in most states.  These Medicare also covers these services: semi private room; meals; physical, occupational, and speech therapies, medications, medical social services, medical supplies and equipment, ambulance transportation and dietary counseling.