Joe: From Collapse to Recovery

Joe is a 71-year-old father of four living in Winslow, Arizona with his daughter, son-in-law and two of his grandsons, one of whom he is raising himself. The retired construction laborer loves fishing and historical sites, especially Grand Canyon National Park, where he worked one of the favorite construction jobs of his career.

Joe is shown in the photo with Patty C., RN

One day, Joe collapsed. Though he remembers little about the incident, Joe does recall that he was working on his mobile home when suddenly he couldn’t breathe. His daughter found him on the ground and he was rushed to the emergency room of a local short-term hospital.

After his condition stabilized, Joe was transferred to Kindred Hospital Arizona - Phoenix on May 27 in respiratory failure with expected difficulty in weaning. His complicated medical history also included pneumonia, diabetes, kidney stones and COPD. He required hemodialysis three times per week and had high levels of anxiety, which threatened to make weaning difficult for the Kindred respiratory team.

Joe and the respiratory team set to work and he was weaned from the vent in only 15 days. Joe then went to work with the rehabilitation team for occupational, physical and speech therapy. Joe worked with a physical therapist on a frequent basis to help increase endurance and balance in transfers, walking, and activities of daily life. By discharge, his occupational therapist had helped him become nearly independent in completing activities of daily life including feeding himself with a regular diet.

While he doesn’t remember much until his stay at Kindred and recalls only “a foggy dream,” Joe does recollect the kindness and quality care of his Kindred doctors, nurses and staff who “came to see me all the time.”

Unfortunately Joe continued to have many set backs that required him to be placed back on the ventilator. Dialysis days were challenging for the respiratory team, as Joe would drop his blood pressure and send the rapid response team flying into his room to assist. But after six long months of teetering, Joe was discharged without the need of mechanical ventilation to a rehab facility where he could continue both his rehab and dialysis to maintain his improved condition.

He looks forward to eventually returning home to his neighbors and friends.