Navigating
Hospital Stays and Rehabilitation for Parkinson’s Patients.
This article is part of The
Parkinson’s Care Compass: A Caregiving Roadmap Guiding Families Through Every
Stage, an educational series presented by At Your Home Caregiving of Texas. We
are honored to walk beside families, offering specialized in-home care
solutions to support every step of the Parkinson’s journey.
Hospital stays are a stressful
experience for any family, but for individuals living with Parkinson’s disease,
hospitalization poses unique challenges that can significantly impact recovery
and long-term health. When a Parkinson’s patient requires surgery, treatment
for complications, or recovery after a fall, family caregivers must act as
advocates, organizers, and partners in care. Being prepared and informed is the
key to ensuring a safe hospital stay and a smooth transition back home.
At Your Home Caregiving of Texas
understands these complexities and stands ready to help families through every
step of the journey, providing expert support for rehabilitation and home-based
recovery.
Unique
Hospitalization Challenges for Parkinson’s Patients
Parkinson’s disease complicates
hospital care in several critical ways:
Being aware of these risks allows
families to take a proactive role during the hospital stay, minimizing
complications and ensuring the best possible outcome.
Preparing for a
Hospital Stay: Advocacy and Planning
If hospitalization is scheduled (for
surgery or planned treatments), preparation can make a significant difference:
1. Create a Hospital
Parkinson’s Plan
Prepare a simple one-page document
outlining your loved one’s:
Provide this information to the
hospital staff immediately upon admission.
2. Bring Medications
to the Hospital
Bring a full list — and ideally the
actual medications — in their original containers. In some hospitals, families
can administer Parkinson’s medications if there’s a risk of delays.
3. Assign an
Advocate
Designate a family member or
professional caregiver to be present as much as possible, especially during
medication times, shift changes, and physician rounds. Having a consistent
advocate can prevent critical mistakes and advocate for the patient’s specialized
needs.
The Importance of
Medication Timing
One of the biggest risks for
Parkinson’s patients in the hospital is missed or mistimed medications.
Parkinson’s medications like carbidopa-levodopa must be administered exactly as
prescribed, sometimes multiple times a day, to prevent a sudden worsening of
motor and non-motor symptoms.
Tips for ensuring proper medication
administration:
Families should feel empowered to
respectfully advocate for their loved one’s medical needs. Delay in Parkinson’s
medication can lead to avoidable setbacks in recovery.
Understanding
Rehabilitation Options
After hospitalization, rehabilitation
is essential for helping Parkinson’s patients regain strength, balance, and
function. Depending on the situation, rehabilitation may occur in:
At Your Home Caregiving of Texas
partners with rehabilitation therapists to support continuity of care at home,
ensuring that exercises, safety measures, and care plans are followed
consistently.
Key Rehabilitation
Goals for Parkinson’s Patients
Early rehabilitation after
hospitalization is crucial for Parkinson’s patients. Without it, the risk of
decline, injury, and readmission significantly increases.
Transitioning Safely
Back Home
The transition from hospital to home
is a vulnerable time. Planning ahead is critical to prevent setbacks.
Steps for a
Successful Transition:
At Your Home Caregiving of Texas
specializes in providing comprehensive transitional care for Parkinson’s
patients. Our caregivers work alongside families and healthcare professionals
to ensure that recovery continues safely and effectively at home.
How At Your Home
Caregiving of Texas Supports Recovery
Families managing Parkinson’s care
don’t have to do it alone. Our services are designed to ease the burden of
post-hospitalization recovery by providing:
We work hard to create an environment
where patients can heal comfortably, maintain dignity, and reduce the risk of
hospital readmission.
Final Thoughts
Hospital stays are never easy,
especially when Parkinson’s disease adds another layer of complexity. But with
the right preparation, strong advocacy, and a smooth rehabilitation plan,
families can help their loved ones achieve the best possible recovery.
At Your Home Caregiving of Texas
stands beside you every step of the way — from hospital bedside to a safe and
healing home environment. Our specialized Parkinson’s care services ensure that
patients get the compassionate, expert support they need to regain strength,
confidence, and independence.
When it’s time to transition home
after hospitalization, trust At Your Home Caregiving of Texas to be your
partner in care and recovery.
At Your Home Caregiving of Texas is proud to support
families living with Parkinson’s disease through compassionate, expert care.
For more resources and personalized caregiving solutions, explore the full
Parkinson’s Care Compass series or contact us today at 469-830-8414. Together, we can create a
safer, stronger path to recovery — one step at a time.
If someone you care about is
facing the challenges of Parkinson's, know that you're not alone—we're always
here to help.
Why is Paired Vagus Nerve Stimulation Effective for Stroke Recovery ?Throughout her esteemed career as a board-certified neurological physical therapy specialist, lecturer and researcher, Kay Wing, PT, DPT, NCS, has always been interested in new technology that has the potential to benefit stroke survivors in her practice, SWAN Rehab (Phoenix, Arizona). When she learned about the Vivistim Paired VNS System, Wing was eager to enroll stroke survivors in the clinical trial based on the research supporting vagus nerve stimulation for ischemic stroke recovery. The results are clear; stroke survivors who participate in paired vagus nerve stimulation in conjunction with their physical therapy improve their hand and arm mobility two to three times more than those who had physical therapy alone. In this post, Wing explains how the FDA-approved Vivistim System works and why its a gamechanger for stroke recovery.By Kay Wing, PT, DPT, NCSWhat is the Vivistim Paired VNS System?The FDA-approved Vivistim Paired VNS System is a vagus nerve stimulation device that stroke rehabilitation therapists pair with rehabilitation exercises to help improve outcomes (or gains) for stroke survivors even years after theyve had a stroke, potentially generating two to three times more hand and arm function for ischemic stroke survivors than therapy alone.The small pacemaker-like device is placed just under the skin in the upper left chest area during an outpatient procedure. Soon after, the stroke survivor will begin physical or occupational therapy. The therapist will have the stroke survivor repeatedly perform specific rehabilitation exercises designed around each persons specific needs and goals to help them improve their function. During these exercises, the therapist will be sending signals to the persons Vivistim device to send a pulse through the vagus nerve to the brain that helps tell the brain what to relearn.This highly repetitious pairing of vagus nerve stimulation with stroke rehabilitation helps to increase what is known as neuroplasticity , the process of engaging other undamaged parts of the brain to take over the work that had previously been done by the parts of the brain damaged in the stroke.Surviving an Ischemic StrokeAbout 60% of stroke survivors experience persistent upper limb issues for 6 months or more. This fact has both inspired and challenged me personally and professionally. My grandfather survived a stroke when I was in high school but never fully recovered. The feeling that more couldve been done for my grandfather to regain function has guided me throughout my career specializing in neurological physical therapy. The passion that inspired me to open my private practice clinic, Southwest Advanced Neurological Rehabilitation (SWAN Rehab), 25 years ago has consistently been reinvigorated throughout my career as technology evolves and new medical devices are developed that make stroke rehabilitation more effective.My goal is to help stroke survivors experience a better quality of life, especially as it helps them regain the ability to do activities of daily life, such as brushing their teeth, getting dressed, cooking or enjoying a meal. Beyond that, I know its equally as important for stroke survivors to get back to the hobbies that are important to them.Like Joe, who came to SWAN Rehab through Vivistim and really wanted to be able to play his guitar again, restore his antique cars, swing a hammer, squeeze a screw gun and pull a tape measure for his construction projects.Kay performing Joes first assessment.Getting Back to Doing What You LoveThe Vivistim Paired VNS System enabled our SWAN Rehab team to help make these gains, that were so important to Joe, a reality. In traditional physical therapy, we concentrate on improving motor function in the hand and arm with repetitive tasks, such as reaching, buttoning, flipping, stacking, grasping and releasing. With Paired VNS Therapy, however, we incorporate these tasks as we signal the Vivistim device to send an electrical pulse through the vagus nerve to the brain.We repeat these specific repetitive movements over and over again. This repetition is continued with a home exercise program to help achieve the large number of repetitions required to help induce neuroplasticity and relearn how to move. The Vivistim Systems repetitive simultaneous pairing of hand and arm therapy with vagus nerve stimulation is a gamechanger in helping stroke survivors get better results faster because it directly stimulates the brain.Ive seen it firsthand in my clinic. Stroke survivors engaging in traditional therapy see incremental improvement in their hand and arm function over several months. For comparison, stroke survivors who do traditional therapy in conjunction with vagus nerve stimulation get greater improvement in their affected hands and arms within just six weeks.To help Joe get back to doing the things that are important to him, we dedicated some sessions to practice picking up, grasping and using a guitar pick while his therapist signaled the vagus nerve stimulation device with each hand and arm motion. We also had him practice picking up, grasping and swinging a hammer.As a car enthusiast, Joe didnt immediately recognize the correlation between practicing opening jars or cleaning the windows in our clinic as we signaled the Vivistim device during activities that he wanted to get back to, but when he was able to get in his garage and open the gas caps on his car or wash and polish the cars, he was excited about how the benefits of Paired VNS therapy related to his personal goals.Joe will tell you, though, its not an overnight change and doesnt just happen with a couple of hours of in-clinic therapy a few days a week. The Vivistim System also requires stroke survivors to engage in stroke therapy at home, using a magnet that activates the VNS device for 30 minutes at a time while theyre cooking, washing dishes, folding laundry, playing with their children, getting dressed, or any other daily activity.Video PlFirst Success, Then ProgressFirst Success, Then ProgressIts always been my philosophy that therapy has to be challenging to keep stroke survivors motivated. I like the Vivistim Paired VNS System because it fosters this philosophy by helping stroke survivors first achieve success by completing tasks in therapy and then continuing to make progress toward their functional goals with the at-home therapy. With Vivistim, stroke survivors are actively engaged, challenged and motivated throughout the recovery process.Paired VNS Therapy is such a breakthrough medical technology for stroke rehabilitation because it helps stroke survivors improve their hand and arm function two to three times more than traditional stroke rehabilitation alone. Of the hundreds of medical devices and innovative therapy techniques Ive implemented in my practice, nothing else has been clinically proven to help stroke survivors achieve this level of improvement in such a short timeframe and in the chronic phase of stroke.If youre a stroke survivor who wants to improve your level of hand and arm mobility even if its been some time since you had your stroke, I hope my experience, Joes improvements as well as those of other stroke survivors encourage you to take the Vivistim survey to see if Paired VNS Therapy is right for you.About Kay Wing PT, DPT, NCSKay Wing, PT, DPT, NCS, is the founder of Southwest Advanced Neurological Rehabilitation (SWAN Rehab) and an adjunct professor at Northern Arizona University and A.T. Still University. As a board-certified specialist in neurological physical therapy, Dr. Wing is passionate about working with clients recovering from strokes, traumatic brain injuries and other neurological diseases. Keen on innovation and advancing whats possible in neurological physical therapy, Dr. Wing has authored several peer-reviewed journal articles and led numerous clinical trials. As such, shes won prestigious awards throughout her 40-year-career, leading her peers to regard her as an esteemed physical therapist.
June is Safety Month, a timely opportunity to improve home safety for older family members. For first-time caregivers, addressing trip hazards can help reduce the risk of falls. A few focused changes can create a safer and more comfortable space.Common Trip HazardsCreating a safer home begins with recognizing the common trip hazards. Clutter and loose items can quickly turn a home into a dangerous space for anyone, especially seniors with mobility concerns. Clear pathways are necessary for safe navigation. Start by organizing and decluttering areas like hallways and living rooms. Regularly check these areas for loose items, such as shoes and bags, and find a designated spot for them.While rugs and carpets add comfort to a home, unsecured rugs can lead to trips and falls. To minimize risks, consider removing rugs from high-traffic areas altogether. Flooring that isn't level can easily lead to falls. Check your flooring for uneven surfaces. If you find them, consider using affordable solutions like threshold ramps to even out these potentially hazardous areas.Addressing Specific Areas in the HomeDifferent areas in the home require tailored attention. Stairs and hallways are often involved in falls due to limited space and low lighting. Install sturdy handrails on both sides of staircases, and check that lighting fixtures provide enough illumination. Upgrading to brighter bulbs or adding supplemental lighting can help reveal any obstacles and reduce shadows that might cause confusion or missteps.Bathrooms are especially hazardous because of moisture and slippery surfaces. To create a safer space, install grab bars near the shower, toilet, and bathtub. Use non-slip mats both inside and outside the shower area. These simple additions can help prevent accidents and offer support where it's needed most. Keep daily-use items, such as toiletries and towels, within easy reach to minimize unnecessary stretching or bending.Even kitchens present their own challenges. Avoid placing frequently used items in overhead cabinets or on low shelves that require crouching. Keeping everyday items at a comfortable height encourages safer movement. Appliance cords should be positioned away from walkways to prevent accidental tripping. Regularly check for new risks that may arise from changes in layout or equipment.Additional Safety TipsBeyond removing physical trip hazards, certain measures can help enhance overall safety in the home. Adequate lighting is critical in every room. Night lights in bedrooms, hallways, and bathrooms can support safer navigation after dark. Motion sensor lighting is another helpful addition, especially in transitional spaces like stairwells and entryways.Proper footwear also contributes to safety. Encourage the use of sturdy, closed-toe shoes with non-slip soles rather than slippers or socks, which may slide on smooth floors. If needed, explore mobility aids such as walkers or canes to provide greater stability. These tools can help prevent falls and allow seniors to move with greater confidence.Helping Loved Ones Stay Secure at HomeAddressing trip hazards is a practical way to support safer daily routines. Each changewhether it's better lighting, cleared pathways, or rearranged storagecontributes to a more secure space. Remember, you don't have to do it alone. For those in Loveland, Estes Park, Greeley, Windsor, and Wellington, Senior Helpers Greeley offers personalized guidance for caregivers seeking to improve home safety. Whether you're just getting started or need support with ongoing care, Senior Helpers Greeley is available to assist. Contact us today and make your home a safe haven for your loved ones, 970-344-9489.