Concierge Name: Daniel Wolf
Patient Name: Marcena Pollitt
Patient Age: 89
Admission Date: 01/19/23
Admitted From: NYU Langone Hospital
Discharge Date: 03/30/23
Discharge To: Home
Length Of Stay: 74 days
Reason For Stay: Right Above-Knee-Amputation
How Did This Patient Hear About Sans Souci: Our Exceptional Marketer
Details of Experience:
Ms. Marcena Pollitt arrived at Sans Souci Nursing Home and Rehab Center on January 19th, 2023. After a sudden accident, and a tumultuous stay at NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn, Marcena was faced with a decision. She could either amputate her leg or continue trying to make it work, keeping both of her feet. After two weeks, Marcena and her family decided to proceed with the right above-the-knee amputation. Marcena was also inspired by another resident in the hospital who had just experienced an amputation of their own. “I looked out into the hallway one day, and I saw this resident running down the hallway. He had just undergone an amputation but was running down the hallway at full sprint. This really showed me how close I could get to one hundred percent, and motivated me to get there,” she shared. Her daughter then received a call from three-time paralympic gold medalists, Todd Schaffhauser and Dennis Oehler. After speaking with Todd and Dennis, Ms. Pollitt and her family decided that Sans Souci was the only home for her.
When Ms. Pollitt first arrived at Sans Souci, she was feeling a little unsettled. She thought the community and staff seemed nice, but she didn’t really know what to expect. She had questioned our amazing marketer and Dennis and Todd about some things she could expect to see in the nursing home. However, she was still in a bit of a fog when she arrived and was feeling anxious about the road ahead. The first people Marcena met were her amazing therapists, and they helped to put her at ease. “My therapists saw me within my first few hours in Sans Souci. They discussed my therapy plan and explained what my daily schedule would look like,” Marcena explained. Together with the therapists, Marcena created some reachable goals for the beginning of her stay. These goals included walking or hopping 150 feet with only modified independence, and performing sit to stand transfers with contact guard assistance. By the time her second week rolled around, Marcena had crushed her goals and showed no signs of slowing down.
Only three short weeks later Ms. Pollitt had accomplished her goals and sat down with the therapists to establish new ones. She progressed from being able to sit-to-stand transfer with minimum assistance and 25% verbal cues from therapists to standing on her own with a therapist for stand-by assistance. She also progressed from needing minimum assistance for transfers out of her wheelchair, or out of the bed, to needing only standby assistance. In the beginning Marcena needed minimum assistance and 50% verbal cues to ambulate 30 feet. After just two weeks, she could ambulate 50 feet with only contact-guard assistance.
Two weeks after that, she progressed to ambulating 75 feet completely independently. When asked who really impacted her stay, Marcena smiles and points to the recreation staff. “Omar and Jennifer in the recreation department are wonderful. They’re always around to offer encouragement and activities. They have been so gracious about providing me with art supplies and other things to do” Marcena shared. “I also can’t say enough about the therapy staff. Kyra, Christine, and Juliana are wonderful and very kind. They’re very encouraging, but they never push too much. With some light coaxing from them, I began to push myself, and it showed”.
Ms. Pollitt and the team could not be happier with her quick journey, especially because her children are waiting for her at home. Ms. Pollitt will be leaving Sans Souci on March 30th, 2023. She is very excited about going home but a little nervous about the upcoming changes. There are many things that she’s never had to think about before, such as which side of the bed to get off or which foot to put down first. This worries her a little, but just as with everything else she’s done, we have faith that Marcena will figure it out. She has been through a lot in the past few months, and she’s still able to keep calm and stay level-headed. No matter what was happening to her, she always encouraged others to try harder in therapy. She’s even already set up where she will go for therapy once she leaves Sans Souci. Marcena has always been a very independent person, and we have full confidence in her abilities. We can’t wait to watch her continue to progress and inspire people at home.