You can go home again

Grace Foster is home again, sooner than she expected.

The 77-year-old had surgery on her fractured right hip last month. After two weeks in an Edmonton orthopedic rehabilitation program, she returned to her home in Beaumont.

“I was surprised when the physiotherapist started working with me as soon as I arrived,” says Foster of her time at CapitalCare Grandview, a continuing care facility that has run the orthopedic rehabilitation program since October 2008.

“It was painful but they helped me and encouraged me to do the exercises. If I had problems, they found solutions.”

Three years ago, when she fractured her left hip, she was in the hospital for 21 days.

“This time, I had a more severe break and now I'm going home after only 14 days and I feel more ready,” Foster says.

CapitalCare, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alberta Health Services, runs the program on a 13-bed unit at its south Edmonton facility. The program aims to get adults recovering from orthopedic surgery or bone injury home safely—and sooner.

Since the program began, patients have, on average, returned home eight days sooner.

Most patients are referred from Misericordia Community Hospital, the Royal Alexandra Hospital and the University of Alberta Hospital. Their average age is 82.

Hip fractures in the elderly can be crippling and debilitating. For many seniors, these injuries are the beginning of a serious decline in health and can lead to long-term care. Rehabilitation helps more hip-fracture patients resume their normal lives, safe and healthy in their homes.

“There is a perception that, if you break your hip, you’re never going home again,” says unit manager Louise Haley. “What this program is saying is these patients are priority candidates for rehabilitation with the goal of returning home, with appropriate support.”

Rehabilitation is part of all daily activities, from getting up in the morning to eating meals in the dining room. Patients have two physiotherapy sessions a day to help them regain strength and endurance, and they have lessons using mobility aids (such as canes or walkers) so they can get around at home.

Once patients are stabilized, the goal is to get them back to doing the things they did before their fractures, Haley says.

“The staff here has a background in continuing care and understands what it takes to support and help seniors regain their sense of independence.”

For Foster, that means being able to walk her three dogs, including an English bulldog.

“The program has taught me how to follow my precautions, how to prevent more falls and how to do my exercises,” says Foster. “I can go home and enjoy my life, and I'm almost pain free.”

The program has served almost 450 patients to date. More than 1,100 people in the Edmonton area had hip fractures in the one-year period between March 31, 2008, and April 1, 2009.

The rehabilitation program is one of many Alberta Health Services initiatives designed to improve access and outcomes for patients needing orthopedic services.