Age: 75-years-old
Date of Admission: 04/12/19
Admitted From: Jupiter Medical Center
Discharge Date: 08/27/19
Discharge To: Home
Length of stay: 136 days
Reason for stay: Fractured right ankle and was non-weight bearing.

Details of experience:
Imagine a beautiful sunny Florida day on a Sunday afternoon and all you want to do is relax and read a good book. For Marcia, this was exactly what she had planned to do before the unthinkable happened. She was getting ready to sit with a good book and relax, and she was moving the footstool out of the way when she tripped and fell on her ankle and landed on a glass table. The table shattered into pieces all around her, she couldn’t move because of all the broken glass. She was calling out for her friend Paul, whom she was taking care of while his family was away, to have him call 911. After she arrived at the hospital and had tests done, Dr. Vena, her podiatrist, and the surgeon came and informed her that he would be able to fix her ankle fracture. The surgery was scheduled for about a month later and was sent home.

After being home for a few weeks Marcia decided that she was going to leave the house and go to the Dollar Store to do some shopping. While she was walking around the store she started feeling ill and was having a hard time breathing, she checked out and drove home. Her daughter-in-law, who is a nurse, came to check on her and when she saw her she immediately got her in the car and drove her to the hospital. The staff rushed her into the ER and hooked her up to the crash cart. Marcia’s kidneys had shut down and needed to have a pacemaker placed in her heart. After her pacemaker surgery, she was doing great and was sent home to wait for her ankle surgery that was rescheduled. A few hours after arriving home from the hospital she started coughing and could not catch her breath, her granddaughter kept checking on her and she called her mom who is a nurse and her mom told her to call 911. When Marcia returned to the hospital they ran many tests and they found out that she had a heart attack. Two days later, they took her into surgery to place 3 stents in her heart but could only place 2 stents because the dye they use to show where the stents need to be placed affect the kidneys and hers were still recovering from the previous hospital stay when they shut down.

Marcia arrived in our community on April 13, 2019, due to the ankle fracture that she had sustained. When she arrived she was non-weight bearing on her right leg and her status at the time of evaluation was minimal assist for bed mobility, functional transfers and was able to walk 15 feet with a rolling walker. In her activities for daily living she was independent with self-feeding, minimal assist with hygiene, bathing, using the restroom and upper and lower body dressing. When Marcia’s podiatrist gave her the all-clear and told her she was no longer a non-weight bearing on her right leg, she was finally able to start therapy to strengthen her leg and ankle. By the time she was discharged, she was able to perform all her activities of daily living at a modified independent level and her mobility went from minimal assist to modified independent.

Marcia’s discharge day was bittersweet for everyone as she made many friends among the staff and residents. She was a ray of sunshine for everyone but especially to our residents, she was caring and always sat and listened to their stories. As sad as everyone was, we were also very happy that Marcia would be getting back to the active life that she lived before that tragic event on that Sunday afternoon that led to other medical complications. Team Jupiter wishes Marcia all the best!

Age: 61-years-old
Date of Admission: 07/05/19
Admitted From: Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center
Discharge Date: 07/20/19
Discharge To: Home
Length of stay: 15 days
Reason for stay: Allison presented with a decline in self-care skills, functional mobility/transfers, decreased strength, decreased balance, shortness of breath and decreased activity tolerance. She had been in rehab for recent left hip revision surgery on July 16, 2019. She underwent an x-ray for her right hip and it revealed a nondisplaced femoral neck fracture. She had a right hip open reduction internal fixation on July 24, 2019.

How did the patient hear about Jupiter Center? Patient was provided with a list while at the hospital of several rehabilitation centers to select from. She was appreciative of our location and brand. Pauline, our hospital liaison, connected with her while at the hospital, and the patient selected our community for services.

Details of experience:
Imagine being a young, active woman who loves to go dancing to having and all of that taken away in a matter of minutes. Allison’s life would change forever on June 19, 2019. Allison had been living in her mobile home for about 6 months before her tragic accident happened. The stairs and railing that led up to her home were not stable. She had fallen twice and fractured 3 ribs on her left side and suffered a left distal clavicle fracture and left scapular fracture. It was that third fall on those stairs that would change her life. She was coming back from a day out with her friend, Dotty, and as she was climbing the stairs to go into her home she fell on her left hip, her friend who is a CNT (certified nurse technician) knew right away that she had broken her hip. She called 911 and Allison was taken to the ER, upon arrival she was taken for x-rays which confirmed a broken hip and she was admitted.

Allison had hip surgery 3 days later. After her surgery, they discovered a blockage in her carotid artery and had to immediately take her back into surgery to unblock her artery to prevent a stroke. After spending 5 days in Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center she transferred to Jupiter Rehab on July 5, 2019, to begin her therapy. Three weeks after her arrival to our community, Allison was still in excruciating pain from her hip surgery. Her doctor ordered x-rays to see what was causing her so much pain. Allison was transported to Jupiter Medical Center on July 15, 2019, from our community to have a second surgery on her left hip. She returned to us on July 18, 2019, and was feeling a lot better and had less pain. She started working with our rehab team a couple of days after her return and she was doing great and recovering well. One morning, she woke up with pain in her right hip, x-rays were ordered, and they showed that she had a fracture to her right hip. She was transferred back to Jupiter Medical on July 24, 2019, for a surgery to fix her right hip nondisplaced femoral neck fracture. 5 days later, she returned to us on July 29, 2019, at this point she required moderate assistance with restroom tasks, minimal assist with lower body dressing and minimal assist with lower body bathing.

After weeks of hard work and overcoming many obstacles, Allison was finally able to go home to her dog and her son. At the time of discharge, she was modified independence for upper body bathing, supervised assistance with lower-body bathing, using the restroom with supervised assistance, modified independence upper body dressing, supervised assistance with lower body dressing and supervised assistance with mobility during active daily living.

Team Jupiter wishes Allison all the best!

Age: 78-years-old
Date of Admission: 05/22/19
Admitted From: St. Mary’s Hospital
Discharge Date: 07/06/19
Discharge To: Home with sister
Length of stay: 45 days
Reason for stay: Patient presented with a decline in self-care skills, functional mobility/transfers, decreased strength, decreased balance, shortness of breath (SOB), and decreased activity tolerance secondary to cholecystectomy.
How did the patient hear about Jupiter Center? Patient stayed at our community twice before.

Details of experience:
Mary’s story is a special one, the type that people would call a miracle. Mary’s journey begins all the way back in January of 2019. It all started with pain on the right side of her stomach and back. She decided to go see her primary doctor because of the severity of the pain. As soon as Mary expressed the symptoms she was experiencing, her doctor sent her to get an ultrasound. The ultrasound later revealed she was suffering from gallstones. She was immediately sent to the hospital to have surgery to remove her gallbladder.

She arrived at St. Mary’s Hospital ready for surgery. Unfortunately for Mary, her surgeon gave her some unexpected news. He shared with her that he was unable to perform the surgery due to her irregular heartbeat. He did not feel that she would make it through the surgery because of the use of general anesthesia. Before she was discharged from the hospital, they found that she had a blockage in her bowels. She was sent to see a gastroenterologist; he too did not want to remove her gallbladder because of her heart issues. Although her gallbladder could not be removed, her gastroenterologist was able to resolve the blockage!

Mary was admitted to Jupiter Rehab for the first time on January 17, 2019. She did well in therapy and graduated. Fast forward a few months later, Mary suffered another blockage caused by gallstones. While she was in the hospital recovering from another procedure to remove the gallstones, her surgeon came in and informed her that he would be able to remove her gallbladder laparoscopically! She was so thrilled and relieved after being told by two doctors that she would never be able to have her gallbladder removed and now she would not have to deal with gallstones again. The surgery went well, but she developed a terrible infection shortly thereafter.

She was admitted a second time to our community on March 25, 2019. Unfortunately for Mary, she did not stay long because she wasn’t able to keep down any food or liquids and could not stop vomiting. She was sent to the ER and readmitted. She had bile that had backed up into her stomach which she had to have drained. She also had to have an NG tube put in. She returned to us for the third time but in a lot worse shape.

Mary arrived at Jupiter Rehabilitation for the third time on May 22, 2019. She was experiencing shortness of breath, decline in self-care skills, functional mobility/transfers, decreased strength, decreased balance and decreased activity tolerance secondary to cholecystectomy. She required supervision for self-feeding and hygiene/grooming. Mary required maximum assistance for upper body bathing and total assistance for lower body bathing, she also required total assistance with using the restroom and restroom transfers. She required maximum assistance with upper body dressing and total assistance lower body dressing. In order for her to walk around, she required maximum assistance.

After participating in skilled OT and PT services, Mary was able to regain her strength and balance, increase her activity tolerance, no longer needed oxygen and increased independence in self-care skills and gait. At the time of discharge, she required supervision with using the restroom and with restroom transfers, supervision with lower body dressing and lower-body bathing, supervision with upper body bathing and dressing and modified independence from a walker to ambulate. Mary was able to return home to live independently with her twin sister.

Our concierge director, Samantha, visited Mary the day before her discharge and listened to her story and how far she has come. Samantha stated, “I could see a glimmer in her eyes of how happy and proud she was of herself for all her hard work.” Mary stated to her, “When I returned to Jupiter Rehab for the third time, I was in such bad shape and couldn’t breathe. No one would think I would make it. But with the staff, who are so wonderful, I just can’t say enough about them, they helped me and believed in me and now I’m alive and going home.”

Team Jupiter sends Mary many well wishes and congratulations!

Age: 98-years-old
Date of Admission: 06/04/2019
Admitted From: Jupiter Medical Center
Discharge Date: 06/20/2019
Discharge To: Home with Grandson
Length of stay: 16 days
Reason for stay: Short-of-breath, s/p cardiac catheterization, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) and stent to the right coronary artery (RCA).
Reason for stay: This patient had been at Jupiter in the past. Her experience was very positive; and she decided to return.

Details of experience:
It began one sunny morning, when Ms. Virginia Donnelly, “Ginny”, went to retrieve her morning newspaper. As she was walking down the driveway, she slipped and fell fracturing her hip and hitting her face on the concrete. She was rushed to the hospital and scheduled for hip replacement surgery. Ginny was healing nicely and moving forward in her recovery until a bout of pneumonia set back her progress. After a longer than anticipated admission, she was sent home with orders for therapy to help her walk post-surgery.

As time passed, Ginny developed a cough. Her daughter was concerned and transported her to the ER, where she was admitted to the ICU and remained for a few weeks. Ultimately, the hospital discharged Ginny home, as there was no further appropriate treatment.

She returned to the hospital on May 24, 2019, with shortness of breath, complaints of weakness, chest pain and lethargy. The doctors found the patient had suffered a Myocardial Infarction (heart attack) as a result of an RCA occlusion. Ginny had a PCI and stent placement to the RCA to open the artery. She was diagnosed with STEMI inferior wall, dyspnea, acute respiratory failure, and hypoxemia.

Ginny was transferred to Jupiter Rehab on June 4, 2019. Upon arrival, the patient was evaluated by occupational and speech therapy. She required minimal assist for restroom transfers, her standing balance was minimal assist during ADL (activities of daily living) tasks and she required minimal assist for bathing. Ginny required CGA (contact guard assist) to ambulate during functional mobility. It was determined by the occupational team that she was experiencing decreased strength, balance and endurance secondary to having a heart attack. Ginny required assistance during daily activities and needed reminders about safety awareness. These impairments were preventing the patient from returning home safely, as she was at risk for falls and further injury. Ginny began rehab to focus on increasing safety awareness, maximizing rehab potential, promoting an increase in activity tolerance and endurance, assessing independence with self-care tasks, gait training and increased balance and strength in order to enhance her quality of life by improving her ability to return home independently.

After 16 days of rehab, Ginny only required set-up assist to complete restroom transfers, had fair to good balance during standing ADL tasks and was able to bathe with a set-up assist. She was able to ambulate with modified independence using a rolling walker. Ginny was able to return home on June 20, 2019, to her prior level of function.

Ginny has been doing great since she has been home. Both her primary doctor and cardiologist say that she is doing fine. Ginny stated, “I enjoyed my time at Jupiter Rehab. All the staff was so nice and caring. I never know when my last day is, but my doctors say I’m doing fine. I plan to live as long as I can, and to live my life to the fullest.”

Patient’s Name: Diane Nolf
Age: 84-years-old
Date of Admission: 2/15/2019
Admitted From: Jupiter Medical Center
Length of stay: 12 days
Reason for stay: Pneumothorax

Diane Nolf is a lovely 84-year-old woman who entered our community, Jupiter Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, due to worsening shortness of breath and acute exacerbation of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).

Upon arrival, Diane was presented with decreased strength in bilateral lower extremities and upper extremities, as well as impaired balance and decreased activity tolerance. She required moderate assist for toilet transfers and minimal assist for dressing and bathing also required assistance with transfers and ambulation with a rolling walker.

During her stay, Diane made consistent progress and improved to modified independence with toileting, bathing, as well as with all functional mobility. With this being Diane’s second stay at our community, she received a warm welcome back greeting from members of our staff.

Diane shared that she was a resident at Jupiter once before in 2016 and received excellent care from both the nursing and therapy team. She stated she did not hesitate to request our community for rehabilitation services. The team at Jupiter loved hearing this!

Diane is a local of Jupiter, Florida and has two sons that she loves dearly. During her stay, she enjoyed going for a stroll around our community as well as watching movies with her sons when they came by for a visit.

Due to Diane’s dedication to following her rehabilitation program, she is able to return home after a short 12 day stay with us.

Diane is a great example of a patient who set goals and reached them through dedication, and the will to improve. We were happy to assist in her reaching her goals.

Patient’s Name: Nanie Daniels
Age: 81-years-old
Date of Admission: 11/30/2018
Admitted From: St. Mary’s Medical Center
Length of stay: Currently a resident
Reason for stay: Left ankle fracture due to fall

Ms. Daniels is an 81-year-old who is a native to Florida and for the past 50 years has resided in Panama City. She came to Jupiter Center with a diagnosis of left ankle fracture. She met with our team and was evaluated.

During Hurricane Michael, Nanie was at home in Panama City where she lives independently. She recalls waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. When she tried to turn the light switch on, nothing happened. Realizing that the power was out, Nanie walked slowly towards her bathroom. Once she opened the door continued to walk forward, she tripped over an object landing face first.

While laying there Nanie realized that she had walked into the closet and not the bathroom. Scared and in pain, she laid in the closet for two days before paramedics arrived knocking down the door to rescue her. One of Nanie’s stepdaughters called 911 and told them that her mother was home alone and had not been answering her phone and was very worried about her safety.

After extensive treatment of physical and occupational therapy over seven weeks, Ms. Daniels shows improvements on all levels. Her bed mobility and transfers improved. Ms. Daniels was always motivated to begin her therapy. She would show up to the gym early, ready-to-go. She would wheel herself into the gym!

Today, Nanie is independent in bed mobility, transfers, and modified independent walking. She is walking around the facility with a rolling walker without getting tired or fatigued. She is even able to maneuver rolling walker around obstacles.

Ms. Daniels will soon transfer out to an Assisted Living Facility near her loving family. Our team is so proud of Ms. Daniels progress and positive outlook on her journey.

Age: 75-years-old
Date of Admission: 07/06/2018
Date of Discharge: 12/28/2018
Admitted From: JFK Hospital
Discharged to: Home
Length of stay: 5 months
Reason for stay: Amputation below knee of right leg

John, 75-years-old, was admitted to Jupiter Rehabilitation Center with a right below the knee amputation. He is originally from St. Petersburg and relocated to Port St. Lucie, Florida in 2013. He admitted to our center due to a recent amputation of his right leg. John contracted gangrene in the past and subsequently had to undergo an amputation to save his life. The first month of John’s stay at Jupiter was tough for him considering his health, circumstances, and outlook. Mr. Reno stated “what brought me out of my devastation was the love and constant support I received from my CNA, Shawn and his faith in God.” Slowly he began to see the possibility that with therapy he could walk again one day. His optimism spurred from our team’s support and motivation to become stronger than ever before.

John was a high-spirited individual who had done exceptionally well during his rehabilitation journey. Upon admission, he was not motivated about being a patient or participating in physical therapy. Our wonderful therapy team worked daily with John, motivating and encouraging him to keep going and reminding him that he was doing an outstanding job. Mr. Reno worked a lot with Renee in therapy and shared that he was very thankful for all the skills she taught him. Renee’s pleasant personality during treatment sessions were of course an added plus!

At the time of evaluation, John was moderate assistance for transfers and minimum assistance for bed mobility. He was unable to ambulate, secondary to pain at the end of his leg and he also had poor standing balance. After four weeks of preparation (for fitting prosthesis), the golden day finally came and John was prepared to try on his prosthetic leg and begin his journey. John’s face of happiness couldn’t be denied. He shared that he couldn’t believe that he was finally standing again using a rolling walker. The first few moments were spent donning and doffing his prosthesis to ensure he would be able to do so independently in the future.

John shared with the team that he was an avid fan of Harley Davidson and has been riding “Harleys” for the past 50 years. When he received his prosthetic leg he was ready to personalize it and place some “really cool Harley Davidson stickers on my new prosthetic and cane.” John was also pleased to have received support from Dennis Oehler and Todd Schaffhauser, the leaders of the Comprehensive Amputee Rehabilitation Program. Oehler and Schaffhauser provided guidance, training, mentoring, and skilled lessons to John throughout his stay at Jupiter.

After two months of intensive therapy, John continued to participate with great enthusiasm and effort as he was preparing to return home!
Nearing his official discharge date, John was deemed independent with bed mobility, transfers, and ambulation with support of a cane.

Patients Age: 73-years-old
Admission Date: 11/06/2018
Admitted From: Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center Discharge Date: 11/23/2018
Discharged To: Home
Length of Stay: 19 Days
Reason for Stay: Fall in home resulting in hip fracture

Dennis Connell entered our community, Jupiter Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center on November 6th, 2018, after being at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center for an acute left superior and inferior pubic rami fractures, acetabulam spurring, and joint space narrowing. Dennis also had undergone a colon resection three months prior and currently undergoes chemotherapy once a week. Initially, Dennis required extensive assistance for bed mobility, moderate assistance for functional transfers, and could walk a maximum of 15 feet with moderate assistance. After just only two and a half weeks of rehabilitation, Mr. Connell is now able to return home safely.

Today Mr. Connell, is able to get himself dressed independently, walk with a rolling walker independently, as well as ascend and descend more than 15 steps!

Mr. Connell is thrilled to be returning home before the upcoming holidays and is beyond excited to spend time with his friends. Mr. Connell shared that he is so thankful for the therapy team for constantly motivating him and for the skills he has acquired. Mr. Connell loves being outdoors; he is looking forward to getting back to his routine of taking long walks, bicycling, sitting by the lake in his community as well as fishing.
During his stay, he enjoyed watching ESPN. Even though not in season, he shared that his favorite sport is Baseball. Mr.Connell stated his favorite teams are the Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Angels, “I love watching the underdog it’s great to see teams that work really hard have victory in the end.”

The team here at Jupiter Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center wished Mr. Connell a safe and happy holiday and to stop by anytime to say hello to his extended family!

Patients Age: 58-years-old
Admission Date: 08/27/2018 Admitted From: JFK Hospital
Discharge Date: 10/19/2018
Discharged To: Home
Length of Stay: 7 weeks
Reason for Stay: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Hematoma to abdomen and Pneumonia.

Douglas Schryver arrived to our community with a hematoma in his abdomen and was unable to sit upright without feeling extreme pain. He labeled his pain a 10 out of 10 and had not been able to stand or walk. With numerous attempts to sit upright at edge of bed, Douglas could only tolerate less than a minute of sitting and unable to maintain correct posture. As his therapy sessions went on, he began showing major improvements and was able to walk 60 feet without rest.

Douglas was a wonderful resident during his time at Jupiter Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center. His bubbly personality was beloved by everyone he came in contact with, from fellow residents and their families, to all of our staff. Doug loved to socialize, watch movies, keep up with politics, current events, shopping on Amazon, as well as sharing his reviews.

Doug offered that he was very pleased with his stay at our community and filled out several “Ray of Sunshine” cards to inform the community about how pleased he was with the care being provided. He shared that his living quarters were clean and accessible for his needs. Doug truly enjoyed working with the therapy team, also sharing that he always looked forward to seeing which therapist he was going to work with each day. Douglas thanked the whole Jupiter team from nursing, social services, nutrition, and physical therapy. He is so happy with how far he has come since being admitted to our community. Being able to walk around and care for himself was his initial goal, and we are so glad he was able to achieve that goal! Douglas is pleased to return home where he lives with his roommate, and stated his first thing to do is to plan a dinner party for all his friends! Douglas is a local in the community and promised to stop in to visit the team once he’s settled in. Doug was given a worm goodbye from staff and sent off with well wishes. We can’t wait to see him again!