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She spent over a week in the hospital and we made the decision to send her to a local rehab/nursing home. A little over 2 weeks in, we had a care plan meeting. We were informed that mom was being taken off of therapy due to 3 refusals. She was not ready to come home so we elected to have her stay until we could get her strength back. A week or so later, she got out of bed, made it to the bathroom and fell. Now her left hip was broke. She has a history of stroke and some Sundowners. So at night she was occasionally trying to get up and forgetting she needed help. They were aware but somehow the bed alarm was not on. She had a partial hip replacement and spent another week in the hospital. She went back to rehab. Fast forward to a little over 2 weeks and again, she's kicked off therapy. It's been about 3 weeks since then and she is definitely losing her strength. She will walk with help from me. I feel they aren't trying to help her gain her strength back. Please give me some suggestions to help her. I have met with nurses, administrators, etc to try to get help. Does anyone have any ideas?

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Why is she not being discharged. Medicare will not pay if she is not doing what she isbin Rehab for. You better make sure she is not being directly billed for her stay.

Ask the therapist, does she ask Mom if she is ready for therapy or just comes in and takes her. I had a weekend therapist comebin Moms room and say "are you ready to go to therapy" Mom said "no". I told the therapist I have never asked my Mom if she wanted to do something cause the answered would have been "no". I just did it. With Dementia, she could no longer make decisions so I did it for her.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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She’s 85 and in cognitive decline. Getting her back to her previous condition is not going to happen.
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Reply to LoopyLoo
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The 3 refusals mean that she gets 3 days of room and board for free with no outcome. Therapy is scheduled and usually the time is written on the board. The therapist does not come back. No wonder she was removed from therapy. It contributes to her measurable failure to progress. Be aware that she can stay longer than the 22 or so days but she will pay a daily copay that will increase by 100 days. Last I checked the copay was $240 on my plan or 6k per month.
She might need LTC
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Reply to MACinCT
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With dementia and Sundowning at play, mother is not capable of making the progress in rehab you wish to see. She requires 24/7 assistance now either in Skilled Nursing care or back in your home with hired help. She will still fall though, because its not something that can be prevented, especially with dementia and even with a bed alarm. By the time the alarm goes off, shes already on the floor. I know. My mother fell 95x in AL and Memory Care which worsened once she forgot she could no longer walk.

Best of luck to you.
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Reply to lealonnie1
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If you are in the US, physical therapy will be stopped if the person isn't progressing or isn't cooperating. Your Mom is obviously preferring to cooperate with you, but you aren't a therapist and walking may not be the only exercise she needs to do to regain strength. She needs to know that if she doesn't cooperate with the actual therapists and make progress, she may become bedbound. They cannot force her to do things against her will.

My very elderly Aunt with dementia was also getting up and forgetting she couldn't walk without assistance. She fell 2 times at home in the presence of her family caregiver. Then one night she got out of bed and fell and broke her hip. In the rehab facility she continued to attempt to get out of bed.

Maybe ask for the therapy routine and help your Mom do it at home. She will just continue to get up and attempt to walk and be a high fall risk, there won't be any way to stop her (and we had an alarm on my Aunt's chair and her bed barricaded, to no avail).
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Reply to Geaton777
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One thing you could try is to ask the administration specifically for a consultation with a physiatrist (a rehabilitation doctor) to get an independent medical assessment of her potential for improvement.
Also, since she walks for you, you could ask the staff to implement short, scheduled "walking visits" with you documented as therapy time to ensure she is consistent in practising.
Finally, check her insurance coverage, as sometimes switching her to a different level of care or a different facility might restart the clock on her entitlement to therapy sessions.
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Reply to JakRenden2
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Sandra2424 Dec 1, 2025
PT here. Walking with the family is not skilled therapy and will not be considered progress. The patient has to be able to participate in a full therapy program with a therapist. The first thing a physiatrist will do is speak with the therapist who has already documented lack of progress. The only way they can assess if rehab is appropriate is by listening to the therapist who had been working with them. You need to accept that the person has plateaued, and probably will not progress further. Sometimes nursing will walk them to maintain current function, but only in a skilled nursing facility. Rehab is intense and expensive and there is no need for it if the patient cannot participate due to medical or mental status.
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