Part 1 – Home Health Care
When the need arises to seek professional home nursing and rehabilitative care, many options are available. According to Pamela Wood, Director of Home Health Operations at Visiting Nurse Association California (VNA California), there are numerous things to consider when choosing a provider. Wood says that, along with making sure the agency has an excellent reputation, it’s also crucial that it is Medicare certified, state licensed and accredited.
“If I were a patient, I would look for an agency that has memberships with Home Health professional associations. Continuing education and certification is crucial to quality care,” said Wood.
Like VNA California, home health care providers that offer everything from Home Health to Palliative to Hospice care can support a continuum of care and wide range of patient needs.
“A wide range of specialty services by skilled nurses, therapists and social workers is also important,” said Wood. “Along with having the ability to properly identify individual patient needs, we also pride ourselves on how quickly we will see a patient after they’ve been referred to us. It’s usually within 24 hours.”
According to Wood, the longevity and reach of a provider is also of the utmost importance. VNA California is non-profit and has been in business since 1931. It services more than 22,000 square miles, encompassing Riverside, San Bernardino and north San Diego counties.
“The number of years a provider has been in business says a lot about its stability,” said Wood.
She also advises patients and their families to ask a lot of questions. For instance, “how will a plan of care be determined” and “Is there good communication between my physician and the professionals who are assisting me?”
A key consideration says Wood is communication. “Communication between our staff members is excellent. Every person involved on a patient case knows exactly what’s going on and keeps the referring physician informed. Our clinicians use state of the art electronic medical record devices, allowing up to date communication.”
For more information, visit: www.VNACalifornia.org.