Skilled health care available for homebound patients

Three days after Louis Sundberg had a stroke, he was discharged from the hospital. The stroke was small, but it left him with garbled speech and weakness on his right side that hurt his walking ability.

"I thought they were releasing him because there wasn't anything they could do to help him," says Louis' wife, Rose. "They told us to talk with our doctor about home health care and gave us a list of agencies."

The Sundbergs learned that home health care provides doctor-ordered skilled medical services usually provided by registered nurses to patients confined to their homes. Depending on the agency, those services often include physical, speech and occupational therapy. Panhandle Home Health, a division of the Panhandle Health District, also provides the services of a registered and licensed dietitian, a licensed clinical medical social worker and a certified nurse's aide who helps patients bathe.

Health professionals who work in home health care visit homebound patients about three times a week an hour or two each visit for typically six to eight weeks. Their goal is to help a patient regain as much independence as possible. Reaching that goal may require teaching a patient or family member how to care for a wound or how to dress himself or how to live with a chronic condition such as diabetes.

"They do the things I don't know how to do, and they teach me how to do some of them," Rose says. "The speech therapist taught Louis mouth exercises and taught me how I could help him."

Medicare's website, www.medicare.gov, provides a list of home health care agencies, both private and nonprofit, by zip code, city or state. Typing in Coeur d'Alene's zip code yields eight home health providers and a list of what services each agency provides. Visitors to the website can compare care at up to three sites at one time.

The comparison covers five areas, from managing pain to preventing unplanned hospital care. It gives rates for such issues as, "How often the home health team checked patients for pain," or "How often patients got better at walking or moving around."

The Sundbergs are seniors and in the age group most often associated with home health care. But, with hospital stays becoming shorter and the number of chronic conditions like diabetes skyrocketing, home health care is a growing need for all ages.

Doctor-ordered health care at home can help keep patients with chronic conditions stay out of the hospital. It enables people to return to the comfort of their homes shortly after surgery knowing professional medical care will be provided.

Medicare covers 100 percent of doctor-ordered home health care by Medicare-certified agencies. Private insurances vary in their home health care coverage so it's important to find out what type of coverage yours provides.

For information on Panhandle Home Health, which provides home health services in the five northern counties, and links to more information on home health care, visit www.phd1.idaho.gov.

Cynthia Taggart is the public information officer for the Panhandle Health District. She can be reached at ctaggart@phd1.idaho.gov.