2009 Economic Impact Awards, Home Health Care Finalist: Citizens Memorial Healthcare

Citizens Memorial Healthcare's Home Care Services enhances patient health while reducing the cost of care, all while allowing those it serves to stay in familiar surroundings.

From the time it was certified by Medicare in March 1984, CMH Home Health Services has been growing and strategically expanding its services, which now encompass home health, home medical equipment, hospice, homemaker plus and health transit.

"CMH Home Care empowers the patient/caregiver to be independent at home and to have their needs met in their own home environment," says Donald J. Babb, CMH executive director and CEO.

Home Medical Equipment was established in 1984, providing medical equipment ranging from walkers to sleep machines to oxygen dispensers.

CMH Hospice was launched in 1987, becoming part of Home Care Services in 1988. Hospice focuses on end-of-life care for the terminally ill, offering "an interdisciplinary approach to assist the patient and family with physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs," Babb says.

The homemaker plus segment was established in 1993, assisting patients with housekeeping, medication set-up and meal planning, and health transit was launched in 1998, providing medical transport via two 15-passenger, wheelchair accessible para-transit buses.

CMH Home Care Services works to improve patient quality of life by helping patients remain in their own homes and thereby reduces the cost of their care.

"It is the goal of Home Health to decrease the number of hospital days and emergency care visits per patient by providing skilled services at home," Babb says.

To achieve this goal, CMH Home Care professionals "instruct and assist patients/caregivers regarding their diagnosis, new procedures, medications, prevention of complications, control of pain and general home care," he adds.

Home care is available for every stage of life, from maternal/child visits for newborns and moms to post-operative therapy following joint replacement. Skilled nursing visits aid patients with cardiopulmonary needs, post-operative care for open-heart surgery, wound care and intravenous therapy.

"Home Care Services is just part of our continuum of care," says Tamera Heitz-Peek, CMH director of marketing.

"That's really important to Mr. Babb and CMH: that we can take care of patients from the time they're born all the way through to end-of-life. Home Care Services really helps us achieve that." she added.

A key factor in delivering home care is CMH's telehealth program.

A machine in the home reminds the patient to take medication, and patients can take their own blood pressures with the readings transmitted to CMH electronic medical records via the phone line.

"Our nurses and physicians can keep tabs on those patients.

If they see something that's a little out of the ordinary - they're not taking their medication, their blood pressure is up, there's something that's different - we can immediately respond to that," Heitz-Peek says.[[In-content Ad]]