There’s a gentleman who has an indwelling catheter that we provide care for. One night his catheter was clogged. When this happened, he decided to call me. He couldn’t have called a home health care agency since this happened after hours. But I was able to answer, and head over to support him.
It was also the night of an incredible ice storm that would have caused the health care agencies to not even be able to get to his house.
Rather than having him be uncomfortable or in pain waiting around for someone from an agency to come and support him, I was able to take a trip to his house to provide him with care. When I arrived, I took a look at his situation and had to make a decision whether he needs to go to the ER for medical attention, or if this is something my critical care training can allow me to help. Fortunately, we were able to fix this situation for the time being in the comfort of his home.
The next day, we went to the clinic and I was able to provide the doctor with an explanation of what we ran into in order to avoid a situation like this in the future. With the consent of the doctor and our client, we were able to take with us the tools and resources we could use to resolve this issue if it were to happen again from his home. That saves our client a visit to the ER, coming into contact with sickness, and added medical expenses.
This is just one example of how we’re able to provide our client with support from his home, and work with their doctors to give them the best support possible.
-John
