It's National Home Care Month
|
| Gladys Boyer (left) has her blood pressure taken in her Princeton home by Tamara Smith, a registered nurse and clinical supervisor at In-Home Care VNA. November is National Home Health Month, and groups who focus on keeping patients in their own homes are getting out the word. (BCR photo/Barb Kromphardt) |
| Buy Bureau County Republican Photos » |
PRINCETON — Your mother has a wound that won’t heal, or your grandfather is recovering from surgery. Who can you turn to for help?
According to the National Association of Home Health Care and Hospice, more than 11 million Americans receive home-delivered health care from home health care providers. Today’s modern home care agency offers a wide array of services, including nursing, physical, occupational, respiratory and speech therapies, counseling, dietary, laboratory, dental, optical, pharmacy, podiatry, x-ray, medical equipment and home medical supplies, and personal care. Home care services are paid for by public and private sources or directly by patients and their families.
November is National Home Care Month, and Bureau County home health care agencies are taking advantage of the designation to make sure area residents are aware of what they can provide.
“We want to make people aware that we’re here in the community and that we do provide these services,” said Colleen Sailer, chief executive officer of In-Home Care VNA in Princeton.
Sailer said that home health care can benefit people of any age with an illness, an injury or a disability, and almost always at a lower cost than hospitals or a nursing home.
In addition, Sailer said In-Home Care VNA will help patients if they need a service other than what it provided by making them aware of other agencies that do provide those services, such as home making or companionship.
The main goal of home health care is to help patients remain in their homes.
“People like to stay in their homes for as long as they can,” said Nancy Maltas, office manager for Angels Private Care in Spring Valley. Angels Private Care also has a facility in Princeton.
Maltas said that another benefit of home health care is to give patients’ families a break, especially for those caring for an Alzheimer’s patient at home.
Still another benefit of home health care is education. Connie Banks, clinical director of Prairieland Home Care in Spring Valley, said they continually teach patients the signs and symptoms to look for in order to stay at home and prevent recurrence of a complication or condition.
“We want patients to be proactive with their health care,” Banks said.
Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.
