Florida Hospital Waterman | Waterman Wellness | Winter 2019

Home care services help patients heal in the comfort of home 6 AdventHealthWaterman.com | Winter 2019 WHEN CAROL FULLER, of Mount Dora, had knee surgery a few years ago, she opted to have skilled nurses provide in-home care afterward. “I wanted to recover at home and not stay in the hospital or a rehab center,” says Fuller. “It makes all the difference—your own bed and pillow in your home. I wanted my friends and family to be able to stop in for quick visits to check on me too.” Recently, Fuller needed a minor shoulder surgery and decided to use AdventHealth Waterman’s home care services for a second time. “It is just comforting to have someone knowledgeable you could ask to do things you would not particularly want to ask a friend to do,” says Fuller. “The home care nurses don’t have to be asked to do anything. They just do things that make life so much easier, like helping with nausea from the anesthesia and changing wound dressings.” “When we first go out to evaluate a patient, we’re really looking at how they function in their home, what are their needs, and what is the patient’s goal, because that’s important when we develop our plan of care,” says Karen McFadden, director of home care services at AdventHealth Waterman. “The first visit is usually one to two hours in length, and we do a head-to-toe assessment, evaluate the patient’s status and compare this to their prior level of function to help us provide the necessary services so the patient can regain as much function as possible. We ask them to show us how they get in and out of the bathroom, how they get in and out of bed, and identify safety issues that might trigger a fall. “We communicate with the physician after this visit and work with the patient and the physician to develop the most appropriate plan of care.” “I would certainly recommend home care because you don’t want to burden your family with this sort of thing, and it is nice to have someone who knows what they’re doing,” says Fuller. “Their knowledge is what it is. They’ve been there, they’ve done it before, so they know what to expect.” Meeting people’s needs “When we look at our mission for whole-person health, the work that we do in the home is incredibly amazing because we are in the patient’s home and can really tailor the care that we provide to meet the patient’s needs,” explains McFadden. “The ability to provide nursing, physical and occupational therapy, speech therapy, personal care assistance as well as future planning assistance through our social worker provides the perfect setting for us to continue our mission within the community. “Our staff are caring and compassionate, and they truly see the work they do as extending the healing ministry of Christ. We have the perfect opportunity to make it easy for the patient and extend them love as we deliver care that encompasses the whole person and their friends and family who also support them.” ‘It makes all the difference’ The home care nurses don’t have to be asked to do anything. They just do things that make life so much easier.” —Carol Fuller