Care at Home
Programs providing hospital-standard care at home now offer patients convenient, more restful and tailored 1-1 treatment by health professionals. Marjorie Lowery, retired Bendigo Health Nurse, survived breast cancer in 1999. Her lymphatic system, however, is since compromised and Marjorie needs intravenous antibiotics periodically. “It’s wonderful being able to stay at home rather than staying in the hospital when no one can visit. It’s very convenient, the staff come to you [at home] and keep you company. They’re extremely good, and we would be lost without them.” Virtual and home-care programs are vital extensions of the patient care offering from health services across the Loddon Mallee region, yet many people haven’t heard about them, or that so many services are appropriate for in-home care. Complex treatments need not be confined to within hospital walls, allowing more availability of hospital beds available for urgent cases, and easing the burden on the hospital system. Home-care fosters a faster recovery through the nurturing of patients’ well-being, and they can avoid the stress and costs of travel and of sharing facilities. Patients can eat meals prepared in their own kitchen, with greater comfort, surrounded by their loved ones at home. Katherine Formica, Nurse Unit Manager at Echuca Regional Health (ERH) is passionate about the advances she has seen in home-care over the last ten years, which she says are “phenomenal.” “Our ERH@home team is a dedicated group of highly-skilled Specialist Nurses and Allied Health Professionals working tirelessly to ensure we are providing safe, best-practice, excellent health care in people’s homes,” said Katherine. “We now are able to safely care for people at home
who can be quite unwell with an acute or chronic condition, who previously would have been sent to hospital for an admission or would have stayed in hospital for a much longer period of time,” said Katherine. Treatment can suit people across all demographics. And for those autoimmune compromised patients who have a very real fear of contracting COVID or other highly contagious viruses, they are relieved to avoid busy public spaces and queuing. Rodney Grist is very familiar with this feeling of fear and anxiety and appreciates the peace of mind of being able to avoid the hospital setting. He travelled back and forth to Peter Mac Hospital in Melbourne every fortnight for 18 months to receive a trial chemotherapy treatment which includes a pump for stomach-related cancer. The treatment requires a strict follow-up procedure after 48-hours, but in Rodney’s case, a specially trained BH home-care nurse now comes to him at home at the required time to reconnect his new infusion. “My wife (72) and I are very cautious – it’s scary for someone who is immune compromised like me having to sit in a hospital. This way, they come to you. Nurses and clinicians always wear a mask adhering to the guidelines.” “They’ve been very good; they’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty, even when understaffed due to COVID. We appreciate what they do for us because if they couldn’t come, there is no way we could go to Melbourne, it’s too tiring.” This sentiment is echoed by participants in a recent 2022 market research focus group for the Victorian government’s Better at Home initiative. They cited benefits including a high level of quality in 1-1 treatments, having company throughout the home visits, greater convenience, less anxiety, finding the
It is such a pleasure and a privilege to care
for people in their own environment whether that be at home, in residential aged care or at their workplace.
appointments more restful, and the cost effectiveness of at-home care. Katherine agrees, having seen the benefits first-hand. “It is such a pleasure and a privilege to care for people in their own environment at home, in residential aged care or at their workplace. We see every day the benefits of people staying at home to receive their care, whether that is because they are in their own environments with their families, in their own beds, eating their own meals, wearing their own clothes or simply having their pets close to them.”
LMHN Regional Review | Issue 2 | Summer 2023
9
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker