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House Calls Make a Comeback

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Written by Michael Nowling

Friday, 06 June 2008

by MichaelNowling

Perhaps you're not old enough to remember, but it wasn't that long ago that the sight of a man carrying a small black bag up the walk to your front door could mean only one thing. Can you guess? No, it wasn't an IRS auditor. Not an insurance salesman. It was not even someone selling Amway or running for mayor. It was the doctor coming to your house.

Back in those days physicians would often visit patient's homes to render care. Most everyone thought it was good idea, but this convenience seemed to vanish as doctors became increasingly inundated with patients during the baby boom.

This might be a pretty short story except for Family Home Care and Hospice (FHCH), a home health agency headquartered in Spokane, WA. FHCH currently serves home care patients in Eastern Washington State and in Northern Idaho. FHCH has now launched a new service providing primary care medical services in patient's homes. Known as "House Calls" the new service will offer patients a generous selection of medical services including routine check-ups, prescribing medications, monitoring medications, blood draws, and more. After the first visit and diagnosis, patients can continue with their House Calls provider or they may also do any follow-up with their normal physician.

FHCH providers are Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNP) who have been specially trained and licensed to provide in-home medical services. The ARNP staff at FHC prefers to visit a patient in their home rather than in a clinic or hospital setting.

"We love the chance to spend as much time as necessary with our patients," noted Carol Charles, ARNP. "We like to get to know our patients on a personal basis and see how they live. Often our observations will give us an advantage in recommending treatments that may be more effective for the patient. We wouldn't have that if we were at a clinic."

The House Calls service is perfect for bed ridden or home-bound patients or patients who have difficulty getting to the doctor's office. However, the service is not restricted merely to the home-bound, but can be utilized by anyone in the community who would like primary care medical services to be performed in their home.

"We see mostly elderly patients," noted Alicia Bowman, FHCH's primary care coordinator, "as they tend to have the greatest need, but we also see a number of younger patients. There is no reason to feel like this is only something for the elderly."

Across the nation, services such as House Calls which provide needed primary medical care in the home are rare or non-existent. Without services such as House Calls, many elderly or less mobile patients will not seek medical attention and will allow their condition to worsen until emergency treatment is needed. Even in ideal circumstances, some bed-ridden patients will put off medical care long enough that their illness becomes much more advanced. The presence of a service like House Calls in a community is a foundational element in the health care of this segment of the population.

While the demand for this service in the Spokane area is strong, the rapid growth of the elderly population in the US means that, services like Family Home Care's House Calls will likely be needed in many areas of the country.

The expertise and systems for programs like House Calls are found in the many home health agencies in communities throughout our country," added Michael Nowling, President of FHCH. "If home health agencies throughout the nation took on this challenge, it would be a tremendous help to our elderly residents and would also represent a significant decrease in the load currently being experienced by hospital emergency rooms and ER staff."

For more than 40 years Family Home Care and Hospice has been serving patients in the Inland Northwest. Recently they were recognized by Medicare as being among the top one percent of home health agencies in the State of Washington and among the top five percent of home health agencies in the country.

About the Author:

Michael Nowling is the President of FHCH, a home health agency in Spokane, WA. The largest privately owned home health agency in Spokane, FHCH has been serving the inland Northwest for over 40 years. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.

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