Sub-Acute Care

A Comprehensive Continuum of Care

At Memorial Hospital of Gardena, we strive to provide each patient with the highest quality of compassion and care – especially those patients who cannot care for themselves. For patients who no longer require acute care, but still require 24-hour nursing care, Memorial Hospital of Gardena extends the interdisciplinary expertise of our Sub-Acute Unit in a hospital setting.

Who Is Sub-Acute Care For?

Our Sub-Acute Unit specializes in round-the-clock quality care for patients who have:

• Multiple trauma, including head and/or spinal-cord injury
• Degenerative diseases
• Post-surgery skilled-care needs
• Feeding tubes
• Wounds that require ongoing treatment and management
• Respiratory Therapy including mechanical ventilators and tracheostomy
• Rehabilitation Services

One Unit, Multiple Specialists

Patients and family members benefit from access to highly trained medical professionals across multiple specialties. Working closely with the patient’s primary care physician, our interdisciplinary Sub-Acute team consists of:

• Basic Life Support-Certified and Registered Nurses
• Certified Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapists
• Wound Management Specialists
• 24/7 Respiratory Therapists
• Rapid Response Team
• Radiologists and Nuclear Lab Technicians
• Infectious Disease Physicians
• Gastroenterologists
• Urologists
• Surgeons
• Dietary Specialists
• Pharmacists
• Social Services
• Podiatrists
• Dental Services
• Pulmonologists
• Cardiologists
• Neurologists
• Internal Medicine

Our central location within the hospital gives us immediate access to these specialists and services, allowing us to respond quickly to our patients’ healthcare needs.

Involving the Family and Physician

We provide exceptional care that centers the patient, the patient’s family, and the primary care physician. We keep primary doctors informed of their patient’s progress through regularly scheduled conferences with our multidisciplinary Sub-Acute team. We also welcome families to attend our monthly Family Council Sessions, which give them the opportunity to ask questions, voice concerns, and receive expert help from our compassionate social workers.

Minimum Criteria for Adult Sub-Acute Program

The Sub-Acute Unit at MHG offers 69 Medi-Cal certified beds and follows federal and regulatory guidelines. Patients admitted to our Sub-Acute Unit must meet the following minimum criteria:

1. Patient’s condition has stabilized to the point that acute care is not medically necessary; and
2. Patient’s condition warrants 24-hour nursing care by a Registered Nurse; and
3. Patient requires any one of the following three overseen items:
   1. A tracheostomy with continuous mechanical ventilation for at least 50% of the day; or
   2. Tracheostomy care with suctioning and room air mist or oxygen as needed and one of the six treatment procedures listed in section 4 below.
   3. Administration of any three of the six treatment procedures listed in Section 4.
4. Treatment Procedures
   1. Total Parenteral Nutrition
   2. Inpatient Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and/or Speech Therapy at least two hours a day, five days a week
   3. Tube feeding
   4. Inhalation therapy treatments every shift and a minimum of four times per 24-hour period
   5. Continuous Intravenous Therapy via peripheral and/or central line
   6. Wound debridement, packing, and medicated irrigation