Home Health Care
Posted at: 11/18/2011 3:34 PM
| Updated at: 12/06/2011 1:28 PM
By: Benita Zahn
Kristen Owens and John 'Sonny' Szesnat are a team, helping to keep him healthy in his home, the house he and his 12 brothers and sisters grew up in.
Sonny's a heart transplant patient who also suffers from diabetes which resulted in both his legs being amputated. In short, he's a complicated case and years ago or with less determination on his part, he'd be living a nursing home, something he's adamantly opposed to.
"All my freedom would be taken away. "
To keep him home Sonny employs Kristen. She's a personal care assistant working through Consumer Directed Choices, a local organization that supports people like Sonny and shares his goal of staying in familiar surroundings.
Says Kristen "They have the opportunity to stay home and to be with their families and to wake up in their beds every morning."
Sonny needs ongoing medical supervision as well. That's where Cindy Phillips from the Visiting Nurses of Albany joins the picture along with the VNA'S telemedicine program which can catch problems when they're easily treated.
"We can look into Sonny's health care, his sugar levels, his oxygen levels and know by the numbers if his medication needs to be tweaked."
For programs like VNA and many other home health care agencies you need a medical referral from your doctor or when you're discharged from the hospital.
There's an array of providers: public and private which can also coordinate care from different organizations, like meals on wheels or transportation.
"One of the things that agencies will always tell you is the level of training that the individual who comes in your home, has. New York State has lots of requirements" Joanne explains, adding " And New York state, we also have criminal history background requirement."
While Sonny welcomes the help, it's not always an easy sell to a relative.
Joanne says a cogent argument about being able to stay at home versus placement along with an introduction to a health aide can turn the tide. She knows firsthand from her own parent's experience.
"Once that caregiver got in place, well,.now they can't live without her."
If you don't go through an agency, always ask about credentials and training and if your gut senses a problem .. end the relationship.
For more information on home health support we've set up a couple of links: for the vna, consumer directed choices and the home care association of new york state .. you'll find them all on our website.
