At Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital-Westborough The Whittier Stroke Program is well structured and comprehensive. It is an inpatient rehabilitation program designed to return the patient to the highest possible functional level. Core team personnel specialize in the exact rehabilitation needs of each individual patient who has suffered a stroke, thereby maximizing the clinical, social and community function of the patient. This is achieved with warmth, compassion and efficiency. Program Objectives The team, which includes the patient, will: 1. Evaluate the individual for functional deficits in physical, psychological, social, vocational, avocational and cognitive areas. (Team assessments create the framework and objectives for the rehabilitation inpatient stay in the stroke program.) 2. Measure gains and modify the initial treatment plan to reflect patient progress by holding weekly inter-disciplinary team meetings. 3. Communicate progress to the family, referring physicians, referring facilities and payers. 4. Plan for discharge by including family and patient preferences. Use case managers to confirm that the discharge plan is safe and meets the patient and family needs before it is implemented. 5. Provide support for ongoing care at home or in an outpatient setting as needed to continue the patient’s recovery process after discharge from the inpatient setting. Program Components • Speech, language and swallowing evaluation and training • Basic activities of daily living (dressing, bathing, grooming, etc) • High level activities of daily living (cooking, shopping, money management, etc.) • Mobility training (wheelchair, walker, cane, independent) • Spasticity control • Bowel and bladder retraining • Optimization of medical and drug management • Primary and secondary prevention strategies • Psychological adjustment counseling • Cognitive retraining • Disease specific education for patient and family • Driving evaluation • Case management/patient advocacy • Bracing and other augmentative devices as needed • Community re-entry evaluation for safety and efficiency • Transition to other levels of care as appropriate Admission Criteria • Age 16 or older • Medically stable • Reasonable expectation of making functional gains in rehabilitation • Need for two or more rehabilitation services Referrals Please Call (800) 442-1717 For a printable pdf version of this information please click this link.