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“I have learned on my journey that the human spirit cannot be discounted. The human spirit is something the doctors can't quantify. It is something they can't give a statistic on. But it is an amazing and incredible thing. You cannot beat someone down who wants to triumph."
That is Lee Woodruff speaking - from experience. She is the wife of Bob Woodruff, the now famous journalist who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2006 while in Iraq. She and Bob wrote a book last year about their life, their crisis and their recovery as a family. The book is titled "In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing" and it quickly became a best seller and a “best book of 2007.”
When Lee spoke of the strength of the human spirit, she was speaking to an audience of more than 600 people, and as the recipient of the 2008 Woman of Courage Award bestowed upon her by the Domestic Violence Crisis Center in Stamford, CT. Her connection to domestic violence with brain injury was highlighted in her talk by way of a little known fact: that roughly 11% of the 1.5 million traumatic brain injuries per year are caused by domestic violence.
Ms. Woodruff’s words and this news story really hit us close to home. We see the triumph of the human spirit every day here. But it isn’t every day one of CareMerdian’s patients also publishes a book about their own journey through TBI.
In his book, Life After Near-Death, Matt Stepien tells his frightening and compelling story of a rare virus that lead to a brain hemorrhage, three weeks in a coma, and a life completely transformed by this crisis.
Matt describes the book as an autobiography detailing the trials and transformations following severe brain injury. Toni Bethke at our Santiago Canyon facility where Matt was a patient in 2005 describes it as an amazing and heartwarming story of Matthew's courageous efforts and achievements after a near fatal brain hemorrhage.
Matt’s recovery took more than 2 years, but he is now living independently at home much to the joy of his wife, children and six grandchildren. Matt is employed as a civil engineer. He lives with permanent neurological damage to his right leg and to the center of the brain affecting his balance. That is the legacy of his brain injury, but as you will see in his book, he is discovering talents he didn’t – and perhaps wouldn’t otherwise - know he had.
Lee Woodruff likely summed up Matt’s feelings as well when she said at that awards luncheon earlier this week,
"How do you get through any crisis without an amazing network of friends who drop everything and will do whatever is needed? To any one of you who thought about my family in Rye, N.Y., or said a prayer, I want to thank you all. Because I firmly believe that you all brought him back to us. It really does take a village in a situation like this.”
Matt congratulations on your book – and most assuredly on your own triumphs. You inspire those in your “village.” You have certainly inspired us.
Matt’s book is published by BIGRED and is available for $14.95 on the web here.
Inside our warm, home-like (yet highly specialized rehabilitation) Fresno CareMeridian facility, we’re proudly caring for some of our country’s veterans.
About one year ago, the Veteran’s Administration contacted us to assist them in caring for some of their most medically complex veteran patients. We of course welcomed this opportunity to serve with open arms. Plus, it made such perfect sense.
The VA approached us because CareMeridian has in place the knowledge
and high quality medical care programs for the very specialized care
that their brain injury, spinal cord injury, tracheotomy, and
ventilator-dependant patients require.
The VA is treating more than 200,000 patients from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq alone. Many of these are brain-injured – a class of injury about which the VA is admittedly struggling to become more knowledgeable. CareMeridian has a long history of exactly the type of specialized, long-term care such catastrophically injured patients require.
The VA hospitals are top-notch in acute care. They also excel at all aspects of limb injuries, rehabilitation and prosthetics. This is because, until very recently, these have been a major source of injury for vets. The VA over the years has perfected their ability to provide these types of treatments. But today, with the impressive advances in immediate post-injury and acute care, soldiers are surviving injuries they may not have just a few years ago – and that can mean some soldiers require very specialized long-term care that the VA is now working hard to be able to provide on a broader basis.
In working with the VA on our partnership, it became clear that even though we provide this care in small, highly staffed (4-1 patient to care-giver ratio), 12-bed facilities for personalized care, CareMeridian was able to deliver these services at about ½ the cost that the VA could provide them.
All in all, this means better care for our vets – and for their families. Certainly our entire focus on caring for such specialized needs in an intimate environment - that allows for including the family in the care day-to-day - is a primary benefit. But, because families may also be faced with certain co-insurance payments, our cost-effective care means their co-payments are less as well. And by placing the appropriate patients within our skilled facilities, the VA in turn has more beds at their facilities to allow for better care for other veteran patients.
We’re proud to be supporting the VA in their efforts by currently providing two types of services for our vets. We’re caring for those that require round-the-clock skilled nursing, such as IV, tracheotomy, ventilator and other catastrophic injury therapies; as well as those needing neuro-behavioral therapies, community integration, and caregiver training.
CareMeridian stands ready to support our troops in our own, very unique way.
Life in our facilities follows the rhythms of every busy and growing family. It seems we’re always celebrating the seasons, honoring wedding anniversaries, and hailing birthdays. Sharing them makes them all the merrier:
Santiago Canyon Facility
On May 8th we celebrated Linda’s birthday. She is the beloved-by-all wife of resident Joe. For two years she has been a regular presence at the Santiago facility visiting with and participating in therapy with her husband. She always has comforting and encouraging words for Joe as well as with other families and residents. She is kind, loving, patient, helpful and in addition to all of that, she is a wonderful baker! She spoils all of us at the Santiago facility with delicious cakes and treats on a regular basis!
Oxnard Facility
On June 1, we celebrated the summer season with a beach outing! Here are a few photos we took along the way:
Cowen Heights Facility
Along with the Spring came family and friends to celebrate the season and join in on the performance of the Golden Celtic Dancers, who visited us for the 10th year!
And we had an extremely special visit from former patient, Amanda, who brought her new baby to visit us!
Sacramento
Our Easter egg hunting tradition is always fun. Patients, family, friends and staff all had a good time in our big backyard hunting for real eggs and chocolate, of course!
Patient Michael H celebrated a very special birthday - his 16th.
Las Vegas
Not something that happens everyday, but when it does it is quite the affair! We had a prom for resident Sherril M!
Fresno
Patients and staff are excited to celebrate moving into our remodeled Fresno facility. Here’s a peek:
La Habra Heights
CareMeridian La Habra has turned into a hub for grooving grandmas. Three of our staff members are all expectant first-time grandmothers this summer. The new arrivals will bring numbers to five grandmas and one great-grandma! We have certainly shattered the image of gray haired grannies in rocking chairs!
While our residents are working every day to recover from traumatic brain injury, serious spinal cord injury or other catastrophic illness, the joys and celebrations of life still accompany them and are a very integral part of their life and care here at CareMeridian.
No one understands the emotional aspects of caring for a family member with a traumatic injury better than the families themselves.
At CareMeridian, the families of our patients know that they are not alone. We want them to feel as at home as possible in our facilities, be with their family member and participate in their recovery, and receive the help they need, both medically and psychologically, to care for their loved one. Most of all, we want families to know there is hope.
But there’s no need to take our word for it – our families can and do speak for themselves. In case you haven’t read them yet, here are links to what families and others have to say about the CareMeridian experience.
CareMeridian is honored to have a Gold Seal of Approval™ from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). CareMeridian earned the national recognition, our industry’s highest honor, by exceeding the Commission’s high standards for health care quality and safety.
But what is JCAHO? And why is it so important? Following is a brief primer that explains why we are so proud to be a part of this illustrious organization.
- The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits nearly 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Since 1951, the Joint Commission has maintained state-of-the-art standards that focus on improving the quality and safety of care provided by health care organizations. The Joint Commission’s comprehensive accreditation process evaluates an organization’s compliance with these standards and other accreditation requirements.
- Joint Commission accreditation is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting certain performance standards. To earn and maintain the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™, an organization must undergo an on-site survey by a Joint Commission survey team at least every three years. Laboratories must be surveyed every two years.
- The Joint Commission is governed by a 29-member Board of Commissioners that includes nurses, physicians, consumers, medical directors, administrators, providers, employers, a labor representative, health plan leaders, quality experts, ethicists, a health insurance administrator and educators. The Board of Commissioners brings to the Joint Commission countless years of diverse experience in health care, business and public policy.
- Joint Commission standards address the organization’s level of performance in key functional areas, such as patient rights, patient treatment, and infection control, and the standards focus not simply on an organization’s ability to provide safe, high quality care, but on its actual performance as well. Standards set forth performance expectations for activities that affect the safety and quality of patient care. If an organization does the right things and does them well, there is a strong likelihood that its patients will experience good outcomes. The Joint Commission develops its standards in consultation with health care experts, providers, measurement experts, purchasers and consumers.
For more information, visit the JCAHO web site at http://www.jointcommission.org/.
We
are very pleased to announce a new partnership between CareMeridian,
MENTOR ABI and The MENTOR Network. This partnership brings together
two companies with experience and expertise, which will allow us to
provide a fuller continuum of care for persons with brain injury in
California and in many other locations throughout the country. This is
truly an exciting possibility for many persons we serve, as well as the
staff who serve them.
CareMeridian is nationally recognized as a leading provider of post acute skilled nursing and rehabilitation services to the catastrophically ill and injured
population. Similar to the current MENTOR ABI programs, The Company
has pioneered a unique approach to these care services by merging the
aesthetics of a residential environment with the support of a
comprehensive health facility. In addition to brain injury care,
CareMeridian also offers a unique approach for patients suffering from
pulmonary injuries, neuromuscular disorders, spinal cord injuries and
congenital anomalies. These services include tracheotomy and ventilator
care, intravenous therapy and wound management.
Since
1989, CareMeridian has been serving high quality, cost-effective care
to individuals with complex conditions. This, combined with The MENTOR
Network's array of quality, community-based services to adults and
children with developmental disabilities or acquired brain injury
allows this partnership to take advantage of each company's expertise.
This new team creates an organization that will be stronger for the
future as a leading provider of brain injury and other neurological
services.
To become more familiar with Mentor ABI and the services we now offer through this partnership, please feel free to visit their website at www.mentorabi.com.
CareMeridian is unlike any other facility of its kind. As you may have read elsewhere on our site, our unique program merges the aesthetics of a residential environment within a framework of state-of-the-art technology and service. We provide cost-effective, sophisticated post-acute care alternative for catastrophically ill or injured individuals of all ages. Our accredited CareMeridian residences provides short term, long term, and life care programs with 24-hour skilled nursing and rehabilitation coverage.
This blog, like our company, will also be unlike any other. Our goal is to take you through our doors, go behind-the-scenes and into the experiences of our staff, residents and their families. We hope these stories will give you a unique perspective on why we do what do, and a deeper “insight” into what makes CareMeridian a leader in post-acute brain injury, spinal cord injury and medically complex care.
Most of all, we want this blog to be a conversation – so in other words, we want to hear from you. You can post comments directly to articles you read here, adding your own insights or asking us questions. We also welcome ideas for stories you would like to hear, or issues you want to learn more about. Comments will be moderated, meaning they will not be published instantly – we are obviously dealing with sensitive issues and privacy is a major concern, so we need to review all comments before they are posted online to ensure they are appropriate for this forum.
We typically will post one article per month, though we may post more from time to time. We also will try to post links to relevant news, studies or reports that we feel would be helpful to our guests. We may even get really creative and add photos, audio or video in the months ahead, so stay tuned! If you like, you can subscribe to this blog’s content via our RSS syndication feed, available in the left-hand sidebar, so you will never miss a post.
At CareMeridian, we view every individual as a life – a life with meaning, a life that is ready to improve. We hope CareMeridian Insights will help you see our residents in a new light, one that radiates the love and care we provide every day.
Welcome to the conversation.
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In his book, Life After Near-Death, Matt Stepien tells his frightening and compelling story of a rare virus that lead to a brain hemorrhage, three weeks in a coma, and a life completely transformed by this crisis.
