MY BROTHER IS IN ICU WITH A TRACHEOSTOMY & CAN’T COME OFF THE VENTILATOR. CAN WE BRING HIM HOME?

https://intensivecareathome.com/my-brother-is-in-icu-with-a-tracheostomy-cant-come-off-the-ventilator-can-you-help-me-bring-him-home/

MY BROTHER IS IN ICU WITH A TRACHEOSTOMY& CAN’T COME OFF THE VENTILATOR. CAN YOU HELP ME BRING HIM HOME?

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Hi Patrik,

I have been following your blog and I have also seen your numerous job ads in Sydney and in Melbourne for a while. It is very encouraging to read and listen to the many subjects that you’re posting about when it comes to Intensive Care at Home.

Currently, my 42-year old brother has been in intensive care in Melbourne in one of the major hospitals for the last four months. He has a tracheostomy. They organized the Passy-Muir speaking valve, which has been approved by the ENT doctors. The ENT doctors had good things to say about it, however, the speech therapist in ICU only attempted to work with him twice. He’s also now got the PEG tube because they don’t think that he will be off the ventilator anytime soon, if ever.

My brother now can follow commands that I have taught him. It is my belief that if he had the therapy needed, he would come off the tracheostomy, off the ventilator and eating as well as talking. But given that, I’m not happy with what he’s getting there in ICU. I want to bring him home as quickly as possible. So what do I need to do to bring him home and who’s going to pay for it? I do hear that the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) is paying for some of your client services.

Can you help us with this situation?

From Carra

Hi Carra,

Thank you so much for writing in.

So Carra, I can’t comment on what’s happening there in ICU but what I can comment on is that obviously the longer someone stays in ICU with ventilation and tracheostomy, people are getting depressed. ICUs have probably more urgent things to address, meaning, a long term patient like your brother is, may not get the attention he actually needs. He probably gets way more attention at home with a designated team, 24/7, 365 days of the year. I think that might be your next step. Yes, the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) will be paying for it. Given that your brother is 42, he will be qualifying for NDIS. And yes, you’re right, we are advertising for ICU nurses in Melbourne and in Sydney, because more and more clients want to take up our service because they want to leave intensive care, which makes a lot of sense.

So the next step really is to talk to us. We can help you take the next step with the NDIS. We can help you with Specialist Support Coordination, which leads often to funding. And then, the next step is to talk to the ICU, to obviously exercise your and your brother wishes. Then we can look at, equipment at home. We can look at ventilator, suction machines, monitors, a special care bed like a hospital bed, hoist, or lifting machines at home and building a team.

Now, this all takes a little bit of time, but it’s obviously absolutely doable. And also the ICU should be supporting your brother going home because it frees up their ICU bed. And it frees up some of their staff and it saves them a lot of money. As a matter of fact, it saves them about half of the cost of an intensive care bed. So it’s a win-win situation for everyone.

So let me know if you have any further questions. It’s best if you reach out to me directly, call me on one of the numbers on the top of the website, or just send me an email to [email protected] that’s [email protected] and then we can go from there.

Thank you so much.

Continuation...
https://intensivecareathome.com/my-brother-is-in-icu-with-a-tracheostomy-cant-come-off-the-ventilator-can-you-help-me-bring-him-home/