Hospital within hospital at Baptist Health to host open house July 17
The public is invited to see the region's only long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) at an open house and ribbon-cutting at 4 p.m. Monday, July 17, on the fifth floor of Baptist Health Paducah.
The public is invited to see the region’s only long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) at an open house and ribbon-cutting at 4 p.m. Monday, July 17, on the fifth floor of Baptist Health Paducah.
The “hospital within a hospital” serves the area’s sickest patients. Operated by ContinueCARE Hospital, it opened at Baptist Health Paducah two years ago. It has now completed the extensive demonstration period for full licensure with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The LTACH serves about 20 patients a day and can grow to 37. ContinueCARE Hospital has provided services to more than 160 families in the last year and provides full time employment for more than 50 employees.
Len McDade, chief executive officer, said the hospital staff looks forward to welcoming guests for the open house. “Unless they have needed our specialized care, many people do not realize we are here,” he said. “This gives everyone an opportunity to come up to see our facility and learn more about long-term acute care.”
Carla Berry, senior vice president wealth management at Paducah Bank and a member of the local LTACH board, noted the LTACH does not provide the same long-term care provided in nursing homes. “It is high-intensity care, similar to a hospital’s intensive care unit but for longer periods, to create a continuum of care between acute hospital care and the long-term phases of a patient’s illness,” she said.
Baptist Health Paducah president William A. Brown said having the facility at Baptist meets a regional need. “This is an excellent service for the sickest of our sick patients and their families,” he said, “who previously had to travel long distances across Kentucky or even out of state for this level of care.”
Connie Payne, a math teacher from Murray, needed high-end wound care after post-surgical complications at an out-of-state hospital. Instead of staying two hours from her home, she is grateful she could recover in Paducah during her 47-day stay. “This is a place where the staff truly cares for their patients,” she said, “and everything the staff does is in the best interest of the patient and out of a labor of love.”
Long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs) specialize in treating critically-ill patients needing extended care for 25 days or more who:
- No longer require hospital intensive care or extensive diagnostic procedures.
- Are too ill to be discharged from the hospital to a rehabilitation hospital or nursing home.
- Need around-the-clock medical and rehabilitative care. Following the LTACH stay, they may be able to transition to acute rehab, skilled nursing, hospice care or home.
LTACH patients include those with conditions such as ventilator dependence, respiratory failure, chronic pulmonary problems, complex and severe wounds, and infections requiring long term antibiotic therapy. Physical, occupational and nutritional therapies, as well as pain management services, are provided.
About Baptist Health Paducah
Baptist Health Paducah is a regional medical and referral center, serving about 200,000 patients a year from four states. With more than 1,700 employees and 260 physicians, it offers a full range of services, including cardiac and cancer care, diagnostic imaging, women’s and children’s services, surgery, emergency treatment, rehabilitation and more. It has the region’s first heart center and accredited chest pain center, as well as the only cancer center, certified stroke center and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It opened in 1953 as Western Baptist Hospital and changed its name in early 2013, along with other facilities in Baptist Health, one of the largest not-for-profit healthcare systems in Kentucky. For information, see BaptistHealthPaducah.com.
About ContinueCARE Hospital
ContinueCARE Hospital serves the needs of patients with medically complex conditions, especially those suffering from multisystem complications and needing extended recovery times – often 25 days or more. The ability to provide these specialized services is possible through cooperation between Baptist Health and CHC ContinueCARE, LLC.
About Community Hospital Corporation
Community Hospital Corporation owns, manages and consults with hospitals through three distinct organizations – CHC Hospitals, CHC Consulting and CHC ContinueCARE, which share a common purpose of preserving and protecting community hospitals. Based in Plano, Texas, CHC provides the resources and experience community hospitals need to improve quality outcomes, patient satisfaction and financial performance. For more information about CHC, visit www.communityhospitalcorp.com.