Continuing Care Hospital at St. Luke’s shows steady growth in first year
October 22, 2009
For Tony Callahan, 72, of Cedar Rapids, his stay in the Continuing Care Hospital at St. Luke’s was unexpected. Callahan developed a sudden onset of Guilain-Barre syndrome, which is when the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. He was admitted to St. Luke’s on September 16, 2008 and spent two weeks in the Intensive Care Unit. Eventually he was transferred to a Cedar Rapids hospital he had never heard of.
The Continuing Care Hospital at St. Luke’s opened in October 2008. It's located on the sixth floor of St. Luke’s and is Iowa's first and only hospital-within-a-hospital. The long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) provides care for acutely ill patients who require a longer hospital stay, on the average of 25 days or more. Callahan was the Continuing Care Hospital’s first patient.
“It was a nice place to be as I recovered,” said Tony Callahan. “The doctors knew I would require some time to get better – we just didn’t know how long. I had a goal I would get better so that I could walk without assistance by March. I was planning to attend a NASCAR race with my sons in Las Vegas and I didn’t want to be in a wheelchair or use a cane.”
Continuing Care at St. Luke’s offers specialized staff and full service support teams to provide care to patients who have infectious diseases, sepsis, cancer, renal disorders and congestive heart failure to name a few.
“Many of these patients require daily monitoring and intervention by multiple healthcare professionals and we are able to give them the specialized care they need,” said Elly Steffen, Continuing Care Hospital administrator. “This hospital is a good option for individuals who are expected to improve, but just need additional time to fully recover – like Mr. Callahan.”
According the Steffen, Continuing Care Hospital at St. Luke’s is not just for St. Luke’s Patients.
“It’s a regional resource, drawing patients from all over eastern Iowa and the Midwest,” said Steffen. “Most of our patients come from St. Luke’s and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, but we’ve also had patients from Rochester, MN; Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, NE; Trinity, Fort Dodge and Allen Hospital in Waterloo.”
Over 100 patients have been cared for at the Continuing Care Hospital since it opened a year ago this month. The facility has 24 beds and the most cared for at any one time is 13 patients. They hope to continue to grow and care for more patients.
Continuing Care Hospital at St. Luke’s Hospital is operated under a management agreement with Dubuis Health System, a non-profit LTACH system based in Houston, Texas. Dubuis owns or manages 15 LTACHs, mostly in the south. Because Medicare requires a clear separation between St. Luke's Hospital and Continuing Care, Dubuis employs Continuing Care's core administrative and clinical staff, but contracts with St. Luke's for a variety of services.
“I had excellent care,” said Callahan. “I ended up being in the hospital from October 13 until December 2nd. I left in a wheelchair but I am happy to report that I made that trip to Las Vegas and didn’t need a wheelchair or cane.”
