What factors determine where a spinal cord injury patient goes after leaving the hospital? - Marguerite David, MSW

You certainly start with, “Who were you before, and where did you live before and what was your social support before?” If you want to go back to that system of your family and support, and that’s what you want, then the goal would be to go back with that family and live out your life. For some people when you have a spinal cord injury, it’s an opportunity to make a change from potential abusive spouses or parents. In that case, it may be the opportunity to say that, “I don’t want to go back to where I was, I’d like to move into a new kind of environment,” so that would be another choice. Then the other part would be, what are your physical care needs? Can the place and people you’ve chosen actually support the identified physical care needs that you have? Because it has to be a safe plan where you will not have medical complications and recurring safety issues—like no way to escape the house in terms of fire or an accident prone situation where the floor boards are broken and you’re going to trip on them—it has to be a safe place. And if you don’t have a quote, “home place,” then there are a whole range of assisted living and skilled facilities that you can choose from that have that safety built-in for you.