Get the house ready before the discharge date

A patient who can't get up the front steps with a walker, or in and out of the tub, often can't be sent home to that house. The family usually hears this from the hospital or rehab team, and usually not long before the date. The house becomes the thing holding everyone up.

We start with a pre-discharge walk of the house and the exact route the patient will take on day one. Then comes the first round of work. A temporary modular ramp at the door, which can give way to a permanent ramp later. Grab bars at the toilet and in the shower, with a shower seat and a handheld shower. A bedroom on the first floor if the stairs aren't possible yet. Thresholds out and doorways adjusted so the walker gets through. Rugs and other trip hazards cleared off the path.

We coordinate with occupational therapists and discharge planners, so the house matches what the care team asked for. If a therapist has written a home evaluation, we build from it. The family gets a written completion report listing what was done, and they can hand it straight to the care team.

Before the patient comes home, we walk the house again with the discharge plan in hand. We check the bed, the bathroom, the entry and the path between them one more time, so nobody discovers a problem on the first night back.

What a person needs in week one isn't what they need in month three. Once the first round is done, the full assessment covers the rest of the house in order of danger, and the temporary fixes can become permanent ones on a schedule the family sets.

The discharge date, and what equipment is coming home with the patient, like a walker, a wheelchair or a hospital bed. Which door they'll use and how many steps it has. Where the bathroom and bedroom are, and whether either one is upstairs. The name of the therapist or discharge planner, if you have it. With that, we can schedule the first round of work on that first call and spend the first visit on what the patient needs that day.

Temporary ramps, grab bars and shower seats can go in with the landlord's written permission, and a modular ramp comes back out later. We draft the letter to the landlord as well, so asking doesn't become one more delay.