About Ernest Health
Corpus Christi Rehabilitation Hospital is part of Ernest Health, a network of rehabilitation and long-term acute care hospitals. Ernest Health hospitals see patients who are often recovering from disabilities caused by injuries or illnesses, or from chronic or complex medical conditions.Read More
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Take Part in Your Healthcare
It’s normal to have questions and anxieties when facing any kind of health issue, whether it’s an illness, injury, surgery, recovery, etc. Every patient wants to receive the best care possible, but did you know that patients play a big role in the care that they receive? Inherent in any medical care is relationships — relationships between the patient and practitioners (physicians, therapists, nurses, etc.). When patients come prepared with the best knowledge of their symptoms, medical history, and current circumstances, the practitioners have a better understanding of their patients and can offer the best treatment plan.
So what does it mean to “come prepared”?
PARTICIPATING IN YOUR HEALTHCARE: 1. MAKE A LIST
Time with practitioners is often limited, so by making a list of things you’d like to address you will make the most of that limited time. What symptom(s) is worrying you the most? Try to pinpoint when it started and anything that makes it better or worse. Avoid waiting until the practitioner is leaving the room to bring up another symptom or concern. Undivided attention is important in patient/practitioner communication.
PARTICIPATING IN YOUR HEALTHCARE: 2. COMMUNICATE YOUR CONCERNS AND DESIRES
Patients will often hesitate to discuss financial or family concerns to practitioners. Health issues can be scary and it’s not easy to talk about them, even with your own doctors. Practitioners understand that medical problems and treatment are both financially and emotionally taxing. Don’t be afraid to communicate those concerns! Are you worried about how you will pay for your healthcare and prescriptions? There may be programs to help you. If your practitioner doesn’t immediately know the answer he/she will direct you to a staff member who can help. Does your family need help coping with the stress of your illness or recovery? Support groups and/or counseling can do that. Let your practitioners know you need it!
PARTICIPATING IN YOUR HEALTHCARE: 3. ASK QUESTIONS
Don’t hesitate to ask, “What does that mean?” if a physician says something that goes over your head. If you don’t ask, the practitioner will assume you understand all that is being said. Ask about surgery risks, expected outcomes, prescribed medications and therapies. Tell your physician, therapist, nurse, etc. what you hear them saying. Make sure you’re all on the same page before anyone leaves the room. You might even think of questions in the middle of the grocery store or while watching TV — write them down and ask them at your next appointment.
Remember, you are an active participant in your own healthcare. You are an expert on your body, your circumstances, your life. Your doctors are experts at what they do but they need your expertise on YOU in order to provide the best healthcare.
Winter Care Tips for Seniors
Recognized among the Top 10% of Rehabilitation Facilities in United States
Corpus Christi Rehabilitation Hospital is recognized among Top 10 Percent
Corpus Christi Rehabilitation Hospital has been ranked in the top 10 percent of inpatient rehabilitation facilities in the United States. The ranking was provided by the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSMR), a not-for-profit corporation that was developed with support from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, a component of the U.S Department of Education.
The UDSMR ranks rehabilitation facilities based upon care that is patient-centered, effective, efficient, and timely. Corpus Christi Rehab Hospital was ranked this past year out of 783 inpatient rehabilitation facilities nationwide.
“It’s an honor to be recognized as a national leader,” says Nick Nilest, CEO of Corpus Christi Rehabilitation Hospital. “I believe it’s a reflection of our serious commitment to the Corpus Christi community to continually strive to provide high quality rehabilitative care to our patients. But, what I’m most excited about is that we’re bringing nationally recognized care right here to our own community – meaning that our patients don’t have to leave the area to receive it.”
“Through UDSMR, we’re also able to help elevate rehabilitative care for everyone across the United States because we collaborate with peers to share information and establish best practices for patients,” Nilest continues.
UDSMR, which administers the world’s largest medical rehabilitation database, provides common language and measurement tools to monitor patient results. The data used for the most current ranking was based on 12 months of information from 2014 from both Medicare and non-Medicare patients. The results were combined and weighted into a score, and each facility was then assigned a percentile rank.
Rehab Realities
Sharing the Scoop on Alternative Rehabilitation Services with Nicholas Nilest, CEO
Due to a vast array of medical conditions, rehabilitation services are needed by many patients throughout the state. Depending on what the patient’s needs are, these 3 highly respected professionals in the medical field share what their facility offers and how treatments differ to facilitate the recovery of the patients and educate the readers looking ahead.
Nicholas Nilest PT, DPT is the Chief Executive Officer at Corpus Christi Rehabilitation Hospital. Originally from Louisville, Kentucky where he attended Bellarmine University, Nick received his Bachelor of Health Sciences and Minor in Biology. He further continued his education and received a Doctorate in Physical Therapy. Board certified and licensed to practice physical therapy by the Texas State Board of Physical Therapy and Kentucky State Board of Physical Therapy, Nilest is also Neuro-IFRAH certified to treat and manage adults who have suffered a brain injury or stroke. Nick has worked in many different settings of healthcare including Outpatient, Short Term Acute Care, Long Term Acute Care, Skilled Nursing, Home Health and Inpatient Rehab.
For six years, Nilest has been with Ernest Health System and in January of 2014, he accepted a position as the Chief Executive Officer of Corpus Christi Rehabilitation Hospital, the only free-standing rehabilitation inpatient facility in Corpus Christi. Earnest Health owns and operates…
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Elevating Health Care for the Corpus Christi Community
Nationally Ranked Rehabilitative Services Provided through Corpus Christi Rehabilitation Hospital
The other day, I spent 10 minutes searching for my car keys, only to find them in my jacket pocket. Like most people, I tend not to pay much attention to something until I need it – even if it’s in an obvious place.
I think my situation is similar to rehabilitative care. Unless you need it, you may not give it much thought. But, did you know that most of us will require at least one rehabilitative service at some point in our lives?
Approximately 750,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year, and there are 6 million stroke survivors living in the United States. Most of these people will require some type of rehabilitation service during their healing process. That’s why we have been pleased to offer rehabilitative services for the past 2 years to the community through the Corpus Christi Rehabilitation Hospital, a 35-bed free-standing hospital. It’s the only free-standing inpatient rehabilitation facility in Corpus Christi.
Rehabilitation is a medical specialty that helps people recovering from disabling diseases or injuries. It can be effective for a myriad of people, including those recovering from orthopedic injuries, strokes, brain and spinal cord injuries, and other impairments as a result of injury or illness.
Patients who receive rehabilitative services often experience positive results in regaining or improving productivity and independence. For example, a recent national study shows that patients treated in inpatient rehabilitation facilities have better long-term results than those treated in skilled nursing facilities. The study, which was commissioned by the ARA Research Institute, shows that patients treated in rehabilitation hospitals live longer, have less hospital and ER visits, and remain longer in their homes without additional outpatient services.
These patients:
In addition, patients who were treated in inpatient rehabilitation facilities experienced an 8% lower mortality rate and 5 percent fewer emergency room visits per year. These findings illustrate how significant inpatient rehabilitative care is to a patient’s healing process.
In addition to improving lives, rehabilitative care saves money as well. For example, for every $1 spent on rehabilitative care, it is estimated that $11 are saved on long-term disability costs.
While I don’t wish for any of us to need these services, the good news is that we have rehabilitative services available to us through the Ernest Health system — of which Corpus Christi Rehabilitation Hospital is a member — that is ranked in the top 10 percent nationally. That means that we need to look no further than our own backyard to find the best rehabilitative care available in the United States.
The ranking for the hospitals within the Ernest Health system is provided by the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSMR), a not-for-profit corporation that was developed with support from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, a component of the U.S Department of Education. It ranks rehabilitation facilities based upon care that is patient-centered, effective, efficient, and timely.
We continually strive to provide high quality care to our patients, so it’s exciting to be recognized as a national leader. But what I’m most pleased about are that patients right here in our community can receive the highest level of rehabilitative care available nationally without having to leave the area. And, through UDSMR, we collaborate with our peers throughout the United States to share information and establish best practices for patients. This helps us elevate rehabilitative care for everyone across the United States.
Corpus Christi Rehabilitation Hospital provides 24-hour rehabilitation nursing care and daily physician management through our full-time medical director – Dr. Michael Fuentes, who possesses more than 20 years of experience in physical medicine and rehabilitation. He is joined by a highly-trained, specialized team of healthcare professionals, including nurses, therapists and other professionals who create individualized treatment plans to allow each patient to progress at his or her ability level.
The hospital also features all private rooms, a well-equipped therapy gym, and an outdoor therapeutic courtyard. Patient services include occupational, physical, and speech therapy, a stroke program, and an amputation program.
We treat about 600 people a year whose average length of stay is 2 weeks. We consider it a privilege to be able to offer high-level rehabilitative care to the Corpus Christi area, and are honored to be a vital part of the community.