Page 30 - BusinessWest January 8, 2024

Natasha Pieciak says Mont Marie works closely with its partners within hospital systems.
instead of going back home and potentially falling or fracturing a hip, they could go to Mont Marie as long as they meet a skilled need.
“This is huge because there’s a gap there,” she said. “Residents would go home and could potentially have worse outcomes. What we’re doing is bridging that gap from hospital to home.”
In addition to physical and occupational therapies, Mont Marie’s subacute rehab offers speech therapy up to seven days a week.
Life Goals
Within its major focus on subacute rehabilitation care, Mont Marie offers three specialty programs: cardiopulmonary, chronic kidney disease management, and heart failure.
“The goal of these specialty programs is to educate and train the residents how to manage and live with their conditions,” Pieciak said.
The cardiopulmonary rehabilitation program is physician-led under the direction of a pulmonologist and focuses on helping patients achieve the most active life possible despite any physical limitations and/or cardiopulmonary diagnoses. The program, which is geared toward individuals with diagnoses of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), post-lung transplants, emphysema, and acute respiratory failure, offers access to lab and radiology services, tracheostomy care and management, nebulizer therapies, bladder scanning, and several oxygen therapies, including liquid nitrogen.
The renal program is focused on reducing symptoms of chronic kidney disease, increasing a patient’s quality of life, and promoting independence. Mont Marie offers onsite dialysis provided by Ameri- can Renal Associates, consultative visits by staff nephrologists, diabetic management and education, a monthly support group, and health coaching.
In October, Mont Marie received its skilled-nursing facility heart- failure certification from the American Heart Assoc. (AHA). In order to be considered eligible for this certification, facilities must be located in the U.S. or a U.S. territory and implement a heart-failure program that uses a standardized method of delivering clinical care based on current evidence-based guidelines.
“This was a huge accomplishment,” Pieciak said. “There are very few facilities that are credentialed. The American Heart Asso- ciation has armed us with innovative methods and additional tools so that we can be trailblazers and give our heart-failure patients the best care.”
The vetting provides an evidence-based framework for evaluating skilled-nursing facilities against the AHA’s science-based require- ments for heart failure patients, including care coordination, clini- cal management, quality improvement, program management, and patient and caregiver education and support.
“The goal of these specialty programs is to educate and train the residents how to manage and live with their conditions.”
According to the AHA, nearly one in four heart failure patients are readmitted within 30 days of discharge, and
Mont Marie
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30 JANUARY 8, 2024
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