There are many situations that cause a person to be well enough to be discharged from the hospital, but not well enough to manage their own care at home. That's where post-acute care facilities come in to bridge the need between the hospital and home. "Post-acute rehab or extended care rehab is when you get admitted to a hospital and you're ready to leave but you can't go home yet for whatever reason," said Dr. Travis Podbilski from Arbor Health. "Maybe you need physical, occupational, or speech therapy, wound care, or antibiotics - you can get those types of services at an extended care facility before you go home." The length of stay at a post-acute care facility can vary from person to person. "If you have a complex illness or need long-term antibiotics it might be a little longer," said Dr. Podbilski. "Most people who just need that extra therapy to get stronger before they go home, stay for around two weeks. Most of our patients are there for about 10 to 14 days." Post-acute rehab facilities and skilled nursery facilities or nursing homes have a few big distinctions. While skilled nursing facilities are set up for long-term care they are not actually hospitals. The two main differences are the facility or the hospital and the staffing level. "A skilled nursing facility has the physical therapy, the occupational therapy and all that sort of stuff," said. Dr. Podbilski. "But our facility is an actual hospital. Not only do we have all those services but we have a physician on staff 24 hours a day, we have other services like respiratory therapy as well. The staffing at a skilled nursing facility is based on acuity or how sick a patient is and you can have up to 20 patients for one nurse. At our hospital there's about four to five per nurse." One widely unknown fact about extended care facilities is that patients have a choice of where they go for their extended care. "Navigating the health care system can be very confusing and sometimes you feel like you're just being backed in somewhere," Dr. Podbilski said. "Hospitals have care coordinators and care managers who give you options when you're being discharged. You can choose from those options but you can also ask to go to a particular place." Arbor Health is located an hour outside of Tacoma and because it is a critical access hospital it is limited to 25 beds. "That probably sounds crazy to a lot of people who are used to big hospitals," said Dr. Podbilski. "But because it is that small I think we are able to give a more personalized, attentive level of care which we pride ourselves on." The best way to get into Arbor Health is to ask to be taken there after you or a loved one is discharged from the hospital. "At Arbor Health our ultimate goal is to be your best option for extended care rehab, Dr. Podbilski said. "We pride ourselves in giving a very personalized level of care that allow patients to get back home to their families in a shorter amount of time." Sponsored by Arbor Health Segment Producer Rebecca Perry. Watch New Day Northwest 11 a.m. weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.