Nurse Practitioner Brings New Services To DATAHR

By Jan Howard

DATAHR Rehabilitation Institute in Brookfield began offering its consumers a new service in September. Two medical clinics have been established to enhance services to consumers, one at DATAHR’s main facility at 135 Old State Road and another at 940 Federal Road, north of the intersection of Federal Road (Route 7) and Route 25.

Mary Ellen Lydem of Newtown began her new responsibilities in September as advanced practice registered nurse in the new facilities.

“This agency amazes me, and the support it gives its consumers,” Mrs Lydem said recently

As the clinic’s nurse practitioner, she is responsible for health promotion and maintenance, prevention of disease and disability, and identification, management and referral of health problems.

The focus of the clinic program will be on consumers in DATAHR’s residential group homes and apartments. For DATAHR consumers too ill to travel to either of the clinics, Mrs Lydem said she would make house calls and work with their physicians.

Mrs Lydem formerly worked at Danbury Hospital as a case manager. She earned her bachelor of science and master of science degrees in nursing at Western Connecticut State University.

“When WestConn offered the nurse practitioner program, I went back,” Mrs Lydem said. “I was a member of its first graduating class.”

Mrs Lydem grew up in Newtown and graduated from Newtown High School.

The position of nurse practitioner is new to DATAHR, Community Relations Manager Dan Borgia said. It is an addition to the physical therapy, speech therapy and primary care nursing services DATAHR offers.

Mrs Lydem said the clinic program “is really unique. In this position, I will be seeing our folks on a daily basis, at work and in their homes. I will see how the DATAHR family relates to them. I will see the total picture of what’s in their everyday lives.

“It’s more diverse than I thought. I enjoy it very much,” she said. “I can utilize all my educational background. I love this new program.”

Mrs Lydem said she would work closely with DATAHR’s therapists and primary care nurses.

“There will be a huge educational thrust to start,” Mrs Lydem said. She and the nursing staff are currently putting together nursing procedures and medical education programs, such as on wound care management and Alzheimer’s as it relates to DATAHR consumers with Down’s Syndrome.

“I will work with the staff to coordinate care,” Mrs Lydem said. “I will notify the staff and primary care nurses so everyone is on the same page on that consumer.”

When DATAHR consumers are hospitalized, Mrs Lydem said she would work closely with the doctors and nurses at the hospital and make sure everything patients need is in place when they return home.

Consumers will be able to utilize the clinics when they are ill and for yearly physicals, just as in a physician’s office, she said.

“We will bring the services to our consumers at home or at work,” Mr Borgia said. “It’s not being an institution, but being a service where they are.”

No x-rays will be performed at the clinics, but as a nurse practitioner Mrs Lydem can order diagnostic studies and labs, and provide preventative education. In case of serious illness or injury, patients will be referred to their physicians.

“I will be in touch with their physicians on a daily basis,” she said.

Mrs Lydem expects consumer demands on the two clinic facilities to grow. At the present time she sees about six people a day. “We could easily see 15 to 20 a day if it was needed,” she noted.

Clinic appointments are scheduled just as they are with a doctor’s office, she said. Home visits are also scheduled after a primary care nurse determines whether the consumer should be seen by Mrs Lydem or referred to a physician.

Mrs Lydem said she hopes to do her house calls in the morning. “I like to get out first thing in the morning. ”

Mrs Lydem said the clinic facilities would decrease the number of emergency room visits consumers make when a doctor is unable to see them. She said visits to the ER can be time consuming and costly for the family.

A licensed practical nurse will help Mrs Lydem in the clinics, particularly with scheduling.

“We will get a feel for what’s going to work,” Mrs Lydem said. “It’s a brand new program. We have to see what happens. We may need another nurse practitioner down the road.”

Mr Borgia said the clinics are an additional way DATAHR maximizes the lives of its consumers and helps them be as independent as possible. He said a letter was sent out to families of consumers to inform them about the new clinic service. They were very much in favor of the program, Mrs Lydem said, adding, “It has been overwhelmingly accepted.”

The clinics are open from 8:30 am to 5 pm, five days a week, and closed on weekends and holidays.

The 940 Federal Road facility has been up and running since September. The DATAHR facility was to open last week. “We’re very excited about it,” Mrs Lydem said.

“I enjoy seeing people who have rehabilitated, have jobs, and live in the community,” she said. “How nice it is to put people in that setting and not in nursing homes.”

DATAHR Rehabilitation Institute, established in 1953, is a not-for-profit health and human service provider that serves approximately 1,000 people with chronic developmental and neurological disabilities. It offers residential, vocational and rehabilitative programs in Fairfield and Litchfield counties in Connecticut and in Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties in New York.