Home Care Facts

What is Home Care?
"Home care" is a simple phrase that encompasses a wide range of health and social services.  These services are delivered at home to recovering, disabled, chronically or terminally ill persons in need of medical, nursing, social, or therapeutic treatment and/or assistance with the essential activities of daily living.

Generally, home care is appropriate when a person requires nursing or custodial care, and family and friends cannot easily or effectively provide it on their own.  

Home Care History?
Home care has been an American tradition for more than a century.  Public health nurses started traveling to patients' homes in the 1880's, caring for the sick, teaching family members how to provide care in their absence, suggesting ways to improve health, and comforting the dying.  

Who Provides Home Care?
Home care services usually are provided by home care organizations, but may also be obtained from staffing registries and independent providers.  Home care organizations include home health agencies, hospices, homemaker and home care aide (HCA) agencies, staffing and private-duty agencies and companies specializing in medical equipment and supplies, pharmaceuticals, and drug infusion therapy.  These organizations hire or contract with physicians (MDs & DOs), registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), physical (PT) Occupational (OT) and respiratory (RT) therapists and assistants; HCAs; dieticians; medical social workers (MSWs), speech pathologists and aides.

Solution: Home Health Care, the Heart of American health care.

For additional information on Home Care, go to the National Assn. for Home Care's consumer web site at http://www.nahc.org/consumer/home.html 

For more information about home care services in the southeast Missouri area, call: Visiting Nurse Association of Southeast Missouri (VNA) at
1-800-286-5892 ext. 1157

Source:
Missouri Alliance for HOME CARE
2420 Hyde Park Rd, Suite A
Jefferson City, MO  65109-4731