Member story – Rehabilitation in your own home

CBHS provides members the option to receive medical treatment in their home when approved by their doctor as being clinically appropriate. Receiving these services at home may mean your hospital stay is shortened or you may be able to avoid a hospital admission altogether. Home-based care services such as meals and domestic help are also available. All these services are available at no cost to CBHS members who have a hospital or packaged product and the medical services to be provided are an appropriate substitute for treatment that would be fully covered in a hospital under that product.

Recently, one of our Health and Wellness experts, Karen, spoke with 75 year old CBHS member Dorothy* who has recently had a bi-lateral knee replacement; Karen assisted Dorothy to participate in our Hospital Substitute Treatment (HST) program.

Dorothy wanted to share her experience about our HST program to help let others know about how CBHS can help you get back on your feet after surgery.

When we asked Dorothy how she accessed the actual rehabilitation at the home program she said "The hospital suggested I may have to go into in patient rehab and use their pool, but remembering CBHS had contacted me prior to my surgery and explained the option of rehabilitation at home I showed the brochure to my surgeon to see if it was suitable. I am a very independent woman and have Penny, my Jack Russell, at home. She’s as old as I am and needs looking after and would be stressed if I wasn’t there."

Dorothy told us she then contacted CBHS to find out more “I rang the Health and Wellness Team at CBHS and spoke with Karen who organised everything on my behalf. I was contacted by a care coordinator from the rehabilitation at home team to see what I would need at home when I was discharged”

When Dorothy was asked what she needed at home to help with her rehabilitation she told us “Because I live on my own, CBHS organised for meals to be delivered, a nurse to look after my wound and a cleaner that came in once a week to tidy up and the physio that came to help me with my exercises over about six weeks.”

We also asked Dorothy about the performance of the medical staff who assisted her in the comfort of her own home and we were happy to hear: “They were wonderful! They were punctual and having someone provide the meals and cleaning put me at ease. The physiotherapy was hard at first but each day became a little easier and I didn’t really need a pool like the hospital advised I still got up and did things around the house when the physio wasn’t there and I think that this sped up my recovery because if I was at the Hospital I would just be resting in bed most of the time”.

We asked Dorothy how she is feeling, 6 months after her rehabilitation, and we were excited to hear she was back on her feet “Well, six months later I’m in the garden again and enjoy strolling around the shops and going to Bingo with my friends!”

We asked Dorothy if she would recommend our rehabilitation programs to anyone and this is what she had to say “Yes, of course! I’ve told all my friends about it and Penny was very happy to have me at home!”

To enquire about Rehab in the Home for yourself or a family member, please email our Health and Wellness team at wellness@cbhs.com.au or phone 1300 174 534.

(* The privacy of our members is extremely important to us and we have changed the names in this article to protect member privacy)

All information contained in this article is intended for general information purposes only. The information provided should not be relied upon as medical advice and does not supersede or replace a consultation with a suitably qualified healthcare professional.