Our featured Local Resource for the first edition of Get to Know a Resource is Visiting Nurse Home Care. Terri Briant Booth the Executive Director of Visiting Nurse Home Care took the time to fill out our questionnaire so you could get a chance to learn their story.
For those new to Whatcom, give us a thirty second elevator speech about your organization.
Visiting Nurse Home care helps elderly and disabled people live at home with housekeeping, errands, licensed nursing not covered by Medicare, and personal care – and also supports wellness efforts in the communities we serve.
As you can tell from our website, we love data, share with us three interesting data points that highlight your work.
- Employs 180 people in Whatcom, Skagit, and Island Counties
- Provide over 170,000 hours of service in 2009.
- Provides over 22,000 hours of nursing services for the Whatcom County Jail.
Though we love data, we still have heart, tell us about an experience that has made your work worthwhile.
Mr. F is 104 years old, speaks only Chinese, and has been care for by our staff, making him able to continue to live at home instead of in a long term care facility.
Ms. G is 50-something, has MS, lives in a rural setting, and would not be able to do all the tasks she needs to do without the help of our home care aides.
Community health issues cross a number of sectors and agencies, tell us about your organizations role in the complex web of community health.
Elderly and disabled people who live at home and receive home care also usually receive assistance from a number of other services: energy assistance, meals on wheels, and Specialized Transportation. They go to the food bank, shop at Salvation Army, buy Girl Scout cookies, and may learn to read through the Literacy Council.
Dream big here, if your organization received a sizable grant, what would you do with it?
If we were to receive a sizable grant, we would provide more uncompensated care and/or reduce our rates, raise the wages of our union represented Aides if possible, and purchase more Lifeline units to help keep more people safe at home.
Any final words for our readers?
Most people think of "Visiting Nurse" as a generic term for a nationally affiliated home health or hospice agency. That Medicare type of nursing and hospice care is provided by other agencies (like OptionCare or Whatcom Hospice) Visiting Nurse Home care "fills in the blanks" and provides the simple non-medical tasks (housekeeping, personal care, transporation to medical appointments) that may mean the difference between being able to live at home and being place in a long term care facility prematurely. Medicare does not cover home nursing unless specific and limited quidelines are met. VNHC also "fills the gap" in that regard by providing medical care not covered by Medicare.
Now that you've learned a little about Visiting Nurse Home Care, head on over to their
Local Resource Listing for information on how you can get involved.
If you would like to have your organization featured on in a Get to Know a Resource article, fill out our short Questionnaire!
