Have you heard of ContinueCARE hospital? Most haven’t but many should.
This free standing hospital is located on the 5th floor of Baptist Health Paducah but treats patients from across the region. As a licensed Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTACH), ContinueCARE cares for patients who need a longer hospital stay than the typical patient. The average visit for a patient is usually between 20 to 30 days.
“We’re a hospital within a hospital. Only about 1% of hospital patients qualify for our hospital because it is truly for longterm patients that need an extended hospital stay, “ says Lee Gentry, CEO of ContinueCARE.
Over the past 5 years, ContinueCARE has been treating patients who require intensive care, such as patients who are having trouble weaning from a ventilator, patients with infections that need four weeks of IV antibiotic therapy or patients with deep wounds.
In a common circumstance, a patient in the intensive care unit of a hospital will hear about ContinueCARE from a nurse who is a case manager. These nurses located in hospitals and healthcare facilities across the region understand ContinueCARE’s mission and the patients who would quality for this unique business’ services. Typically, the medical staff of ContinueCARE will help care for approximately 20 patients at any given time.
“We understand patients in hospitals don’t want to be there and want to leave as soon as possible. By coming to our facility, we specialize in treating specific medical conditions and providing the intensive care each patients needs. We also offer our patients rehab as needed including speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy. There are medical specialists who care for and treat our patients as needed. Our ultimate goal is to help get our patients up and on their feet so they can return home.”
There are approximately 380 Long Term Acute Care Hospitals in the nation. Of these LTACH facilities, only seven are located in Kentucky and ContinueCARE is the only one located in this region. ContinueCARE helped treat their 1,000th patient this past May and continues to help treat patients who require a longterm hospital stay every single day.
