Home Care brings service to Washington Co. residents

For some patients, medical care at a clinic simply isn’t always an option. Whether due to a compromised immune system, poor mobility, or any number of other factors, there are some who need health services brought to them. For those people, Washington County Public Health offers home care.

“Home health nurses do a variety of things, although many of the core duties and skills are very similar to what a nurse working in the hospital would do,” WCPH Director of Nursing Karri Fisher said. “We travel to the patient’s home to provide the service rather than the patient being required to come to us. WCPH’s brand of home health nursing is much like concierge medicine. If we don’t provide a service, we will make every effort to connect that patient and/or family with someone who does. We provide holistic or whole-person care, not just treatment for a specific illness.”

As a rule of thumb, patients have one nurse working with them for the length of their medical needs, save for substitutions from vacations or additional care for patients with more intense needs.

“Our nurses keep their patients from admission through discharge,” Fisher said. “We do build a very good relationship with our patients and their families. We become a source of knowledge they know that they can reach out to with questions, even after discharge.”

Fisher said the work was easy to get passionate about.

“I love the independent nature of home health nursing and the work of coordinating many different providers that are on the care team,” she said. “My favorite part is the people. I love caring for our patients, working with our partners and facilitating our care team’s work as they provide care to the residents of our county.”

That’s not to say the work is easy. Fisher said one of the hardest parts was the need to plan ahead.

“There are a lot of challenges,” she said. “I think for me, the biggest challenge is coordinating supplies needed to care for someone in a remote area. In home health, if you don’t carry it with you, you don’t have it. You can’t run down the hall and grab it. Home health nurses are very good at thinking ahead and planning for contingencies.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com