“Helping someone find their words for the first time, or be able to eat after a stroke is so rewarding. I am reminded each day that these things that we all take for granted are fragile.”
– Laddie Erbele, speech language pathologist

A stroke, a traumatic brain injury, a neurological condition … those are the kinds of life-altering events that bring people to Laddie Erbele’s world. Her job and her joy are helping them relearn the skills to get them where they can function and live life to their fullest potential.

Laddie Erbele is a speech and language pathologist at Community Hospital’s William R. Lewis, MD, Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit (IRU). The unit provides rehabilitation services to individuals who have suffered an acute illness, injury, or accident, resulting in significant functional decline.

The IRU team
❙ Physiatrists
❙ Rehabilitation nurses
❙ Physical, occupational, and speech-language therapists
❙ Social workers
❙ Clinical dietitians
❙ Doctor of osteopathic medicine
❙ The other team — your family

Family is a major support system. The IRU includes them in treatment, education, and planning throughout a patient’s stay.

A team that works well together results in happier, healthier patients.

The majority of IRU patients are able to return to their homes after making significant gains in their life skills.

chomp.org/iru

“The blessing of cardiac surgery is that the patients are very grateful because the success rate is so high. We are making significant differences in people’s lives.”
– Gregory Spowart, MD

Not all hearts are created, or treated, the same. Some are damaged before birth. Others are compromised by heredity or impaired by lifestyle choices. No matter what brings them, and their owners, to the office of cardiothoracic surgeon Gregory Spowart, he provides the expertise that comes from years of training, decades of experience, and a passion for innovation.

After about 30 years performing coronary bypasses and repairing and replacing heart valves in the operating room, in late 2017 Dr. Gregory Spowart expanded his practice to the cardiac catheterization lab of Community Hospital’s Tyler Heart Institute. There, Spowart joined a team replacing valves in a new, less-invasive way, through transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Whether in the operating room, the cath lab, or any of the other areas that make up the Tyler Heart Institute, Spowart and others on our cardiac team provide the best in personalized, advanced care.

Tyler Heart Institute

Tyler Heart Institute brings together the full range of heart care, from prevention through recovery, with excellent results.
❙ Prevention – Classes and lectures on nutrition, exercise, managing cholesterol, and more
❙ Diagnosis – More than 30 doctors in various cardiac specialties and a full range of diagnostic tests
❙ Advanced treatment for:
   ❙ Coronary artery disease
   ❙ Atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmia
   ❙ Damaged valves
   ❙ Structural issues such as a hole between the upper chambers of the heart
❙ Cardiac rehabilitation – Our certified program helps people live life to the fullest and reduces the chances of a recurring cardiac issue

chomp.org/heart

It’s difficult to think about your health when having enough to eat and a safe, dry place to sleep are uncertainties, so Thomas Muir makes that his mission. Muir, a social worker at Community Hospital and its sister company, Community Health Innovations, takes his work to the streets, getting to know the community members experiencing homelessness and helping them on their terms.

Thomas Muir is a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in trying to help those experiencing homelessness get back on track in life and in health. His workdays cover a lot of ground as he joins with others to address homelessness from many angles.

Mobile Health Clinic

With six regular stops on the Peninsula each week, the Montage Health Mobile Health Clinic serves those experiencing homelessness and those who have limited access to healthcare or an inability to pay by going to where they live or where they seek other services.

Multidisciplinary Outreach Team

Montage Health, the Monterey Police Department, Monterey County’s District Attorney’s Office, Behavioral Health, and Adult Protective Services, the YWCA, and others combine forces each week, working around the city to address issues at the core of homelessness in a non-punitive way.

Recurrent Visitor Program

People without ready access to healthcare, including those experiencing homelessness, often find themselves in a hospital emergency department, even for things that aren’t emergencies. It’s the most expensive way to get care, and it can drain resources needed for true emergencies. Community Hospital focuses on these “recurrent visitors,” getting them the care and resources they need in an appropriate setting, and helping them focus on prevention and managing chronic illnesses.

Peninsula Homeless Exchange

Government agencies and community providers work together to align support and services for those experiencing homelessness.

Respite House

Community Hospital partners with Natividad Medical Center and Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System on Central Coast Respite Care, a six-bed house in Seaside for those experiencing homelessness, after they are released from a hospital. The program provides a clean and safe place for recuperation following hospitalization. The house is run by Community Homeless Solutions.

montagehealth.org/homelesshelp

“I get to work with people during a time when they are motivated to make lifestyle changes. I love supporting them in regaining confidence in the ability to exercise safely.”
– Denise Hasegawa, nurse

After a heart attack, heart surgery, or other “heart event,” returning to life’s everyday activities can be scary. That’s where Denise Hasegawa comes in. She is part of the Cardiac Rehabilitation team, whose staff help patients learn to comfortably and safely build their stamina and confidence to do the things they love. Their accomplishments also reduce their chances of future heart issues.

Caring for the hearts of our community doesn’t stop with a surgery or a stent. Denise Hasegawa and the rest of the Cardiac Rehabilitation team work with heart patients, reducing their future risk for heart disease, maximizing their fitness and recovery, and managing their symptoms in a safe environment.

Hasegawa, a cardiac rehabilitation nurse, works with other registered nurses, exercise physiologists, and registered dietitians to help people who have had issues and procedures including:
❙ A heart attack
❙ Heart failure
❙ Angina
❙ Angioplasty or stent
❙ Coronary artery bypass surgery
❙ Valve repair or replacement surgery (including TAVR)

Each patient rehabilitation plan is personalized through a comprehensive program that includes:

chomp.org/heart

“The palliative team has a man named Dharma who seems to miraculously appear whenever I need a North Star. He is practical and magical.”
– Daughter of a patient

When someone comes to the hospital with a life-threatening illness, they’re usually worried about a lot more than their health. How will their family cope? Who will take care of their dog or cat? Will they be able to live on their own when it’s time to go home? If their illness progresses, are they in a good place emotionally and spiritually? Dharma Naidu understands this. His training is as a pharmacist, but as a member of the palliative care team at Community Hospital, his work goes far beyond his clinical title. With each patient and family member he encounters, he is fully present, hearing and observing their needs and their fears, and providing comfort and care.

Dharma Naidu is part of the Palliative Medicine Service, a team that cares for those who have a serious illness, and their families. Palliative care focuses on reducing the symptoms, pain, stress, and side effects related to the illness so patients can live more comfortably. Palliative care does not replace primary medical treatment; it works together with that treatment, providing an extra layer of support for physical, emotional, spiritual, and practical needs.

The team includes doctors, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social workers, and chaplains — a multidisciplinary mix intended to address a broad range of needs. A significant part of Naidu’s role is pain management, but he treats the whole person and their family.

Community Hospital’s Palliative Medicine Service has had advanced certification from the Joint Commission since 2014, when it was one of the first hospitals in California to earn the designation.

2018

❙ 1,391 inpatient stays
❙ 117 outpatients
❙ 2,400 advance-care planning documents scanned into patient medical records, enabling doctors and clinicians to understand the patient’s end-of-life wishes

chomp.org/palliative