Care coordination reaches much farther than medical needs

Imagine suffering from muscular dystrophy and experiencing increasingly deteriorating mobility as the disease progresses. Now imagine living in a single, upstairs room of a house without access to a kitchen. The only laundry facilities available are two flights of stairs away in the basement.

An AXIS Healthcare member has moved out of a single-room and into a home of his own for the first time in his life. Randy*, a strongly independent 47-year-old man with muscular dystrophy, lived in a single room for more than two decades before his AXIS Healthcare Core Team helped him find a home of his own. Now renting in an accessible apartment in St. Paul, Randy no longer needs to climb up and down stairs to reach his home or to go out into the community.

In addition to finding housing, Randy has also received assistance with dental care and his mobility concerns. “My bedroom alone is bigger than my last place and I also have a kitchen, bathroom, living room and closets.”

His meals and nutrition are also improving, “I used to eat cold food out of the can at my old place,” he said. “Now I have a kitchen and can make dinners, spaghetti or anything I want.”

Randy is continuing to coordinate his medical and housing needs with his core team. Now settled into his home, he continues to work part-time at a local restaurant and enjoys his involvement in the community. Randy is an excellent example of an AXIS Healthcare member whose needs were met effectively while also retaining his independence. AXIS Healthcare is a disability care coordination organization founded in 1997 by Courage Center and Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute as an innovative model of care for people with disabilities.