Amanda Wilde (Host): A swingbeds program is a game changer in rural hospitals because it maximizes resources and minimizes complications for patients transitioning from hospitalization to rehabilitation. Cumberland HealthCare's Swingbed Program allows patients a smooth through line from acute care to healing and recovery. We're getting details about Cumberland HealthCare's Swingbed Program from Director of Nursing, Meekin Witthoft; Director of Rehabilitation Services, Ashley Knutson; and registered dietitian, Kiersten Haugerud.

 Welcome to Healthier You from Cumberland HealthCare. I'm Amanda Wilde. Meekin, Ashley, Kiersten, thank you so much for being here to share your expertise. Meekin, do you want to expand at all on the background as regards to what a swingbed is? Why is it called swingbed?

Meekin Witthoft: Yes, I would love to. So, Cumberland Healthcare Swingbed Program is a stop before home where patients can receive continued care they need while recovering from an illness or surgery. So, another way of terming it is swinging from one level to another. So from inpatient care to transitioning care to home, also viewed as that transition phase.

Host: And that's all important that it happen in the same place so that people don't have to transition to nursing facilities or, especially in these rural areas, go outside of their home community.

Meekin Witthoft: Correct.

Host: What kinds of acute issues or surgeries do you generally see in your program, Meekin?

Meekin Witthoft: So, there's a wide range of diagnoses and surgeries that qualify patients for swingbed stay. Some commonly seen here at Cumberland are extended IV therapy needs. So, example would be recovering from an infection where we have IV antibiotic therapy requirements. Orthopedic surgeries, so the hip and the knee replacements, fractures, postsurgical procedures in general, neurological disorders like a stroke, generalized weakness due to heart failure, COPD, pneumonia and other acute chronic conditions.

Host: So, those are the acute issues you see, and then you provide services to transition patients into the rehabilitation phase. What types of services do you provide patients throughout that process?

Meekin Witthoft: Cumberland provides a wide range of services to our patients, which include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, our dietician services, pharmacists, 24-hour skilled nursing and providers, wound care, discharge planners; continued outpatient services, which include our therapy services, dietary needs, wound care, infusion, and cardiac pulmonary rehabilitation. This list does not include our community services that we can assist with that are set up upon discharge, like your home health needs.

Host: Well, let's get a little more detail on each service provided by Director of Rehabilitation Services. That's you, Ashley. And then, we'll hear from Kiersten on the dietitian side as well.

Ashley Knutson: Thanks, Amanda. From a therapy perspective, the ultimate goal is to facilitate recovery, assist patients in achieving their maximal independence, and return them back to their home environment. Here at Cumberland HealthCare, we provide a comprehensive range of rehabilitation services to our patient, as Meekin previously alluded to, including physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy.

The rehabilitation staff provide treatment in a structured, therapeutic environment. To break it down a little bit more specifically, physical therapy provides services that assist patients with regaining mobility, strength, functional performance through prescribed exercise, hands on care and patient education.

Occupational therapy focuses on everyday life activities to promote health, well being, and the ability to participate in important activities of your life. This includes any meaningful activity that a person wants to accomplish, including taking care of yourself and your family, working, going to school, among many others.

And then last, but certainly not least, speech therapy helps with communication skills, including your ability to talk and use other language skills. Additionally, it helps patients express thoughts and understand what other people are saying to you to improve memory skills and the ability to solve problems. Speech therapy also ensures that patients are safe with their swallowing abilities. So as you see or hear, ultimately achieving therapy goals across all the disciplines makes the transition home easier for patients and their families, which is a large, integral facet of our swingbed program here at Cumberland HealthCare.

Host: Such a supportive program and a holistic approach. Kiersten, do you want to chime in with the dietary piece of this?

Kiersten Haugerud: Absolutely. So as the dietitian, I provide comprehensive nutrition consultation services to treat and manage many health conditions. So, this includes, first of all, a malnutrition screening completed every seven days during the stay. On top of that, I provide nutrition education for each individual's dietary needs, more frequent than that as needed to fuel a faster recovery.

We also provide three meals per day according to each patient's specialty diet. That can include being diabetic, a heart healthy diet, renal diet for people with kidney issues, or altered food textures for chewing and swallowing issues if the speech therapist believes that the patient needs an altered, textured diet, as Ashley mentioned before.

We also provide protein supplementation for individuals who have increased protein or calorie needs due to an infection or wounds. And all of our food is homemade here at the Harvest Grill, which is an addition to our new facility. And so, we do our best to obtain ingredients from local sources and really promote the farm-to-table concept. And the relationship really doesn't stop there. I think seeing a patient in the swingbed setting or inpatient setting establishes a good rapport in case patients are interested in following up with me, without patient services as well.

Host: And Meekin, can you address the other services provided that we have not yet touched on?

Meekin Witthoft: Yes. So in addition to the therapy services and dietary services, we have 24-hour skilled nursing care. So, this team provides the recovery care, the pain management and education to our patients, with the help of an interdisciplinary team, ensuring all the needs are met. The pharmacy, we have licensed pharmacists on staff that work directly with our patients for medication needs and management. We have a meds-to-beds program through our retail pharmacy, Maple Ridge, where patients can receive their discharge medications and educations directly in their room prior to discharge. We have a wonderful team of providers here at Cumberland that are on staff 24/7, and they round with our patients to ensure medical needs are being met and that we're progressing towards the patient's plan of care.

Our wound care healing center, specialize in wound care and infusions. So, our Wound Care Clinic and Infusion Center are just a couple of the many outpatient services offered for our swingbed patients after discharge, but the wound care part is intertwined in during the stay to help with those wound care needs. And our discharge planners help patients and their families find additional services in the community that may be needed for highest level of functionality and confidence once discharged home. So, some examples of this are your home health services, meal services, advanced directives, housing, 24-hour care or medical devices that may be needed so then care doesn't end once discharged. There's continued care as well, which we've kind of touched base on throughout this conversation. But physical therapy doesn't need to end once they discharge or occupational therapy or speech therapy, dietary needs, infusion and wound. And we also provide cardiac pulmonary rehabilitation.

Host: Which is so reassuring that people can continue to see the same providers that they are seeing, whether they were in the acute setting or the recovery setting or now like a maintenance setting. Meekin, how do patients qualify for the swingbeds program?

Meekin Witthoft: Patients, per Medicare guidelines, must have a three night inpatient hospital stay at any acute hospital within the past 30 days. So, that stay doesn't generally have to be here at Cumberland. We take swingbed patients from a wide range of hospitals around the area. And then, also we have to look at the insurance authorization that is required for the skilled nursing needs and rehabilitation services.

Host: And can you say more about the process that people might have to go through? Is there anything we should be aware of as we begin?

Meekin Witthoft: Yeah. Patients that qualify for our swingbed program or like to inquire about it are encouraged to discuss this with their discharge planner within the acute care hospital that they're at. If in situations where it's post discharge from their acute hospital, we're more than happy to assist with that need, and any patient out in the community can feel free to contact our team directly at 715-822-7416.

Host: Oh, that's great. That was Director of Nursing, Meekin Witthoft, Director of Rehabilitation Services; Ashley Knutson, and Registered Dietitian, Kiersten Haugerud. For more information, visit cumberlandhealthcare.com/services/swing-bed. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out our full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Healthier You, a podcast from Cumberland HealthCare.