In-Home Healthcare
The goal of our programs is to provide injured or ill patients high-quality care from the comfort of their own homes.
What Is Home Healthcare?
Home healthcare is simply the provision of medical treatment while you are at home instead of at the hospital. The purpose of home healthcare is to allow the patient to discharge from the hospital and back to as close a normal life as possible. It allows the patient to maintain some level of independence despite ongoing treatment and offers the ability to help some patients slow the advance of some diseases and retain their self-sufficiency.
When Is Home Healthcare Used?
Home health services are usually used when there is not a life-threatening illness or one that requires immediate access to emergency medical facilities.
The types of treatments that home healthcare provide include:
- Alzheimer’s and dementia care
- Injections
- Health monitoring
- Post-surgical wound care
- Intravenous or nutrition therapy
- Pain management
- Skilled nursing
- Physical therapy
- Medical social work
- Medication management
- Heart disease management
Medical professionals provide all of these treatments and more to in-home or home-bound patients. This can be very effective care for some patients because it allows trained individuals to regularly check a patient’s vital signs and/or ensure that they are maintaining their therapy or medication routine. It can also be effective at preventing serious complications of injury or illness because the home healthcare specialist proactively asks the patient questions to rule out certain complications.
Home Healthcare and Alzheimer’s
Home healthcare has been used especially effectively in Alzheimer’s cases. Using in-home care allows these patients to retain some level of independence, even as the disease progresses. It also allows the patient some level of comfort as they will be in familiar surroundings, and it may slow the advance of the disease by allowing the patient to retain some independence and exercise their mental functions by triggering long-term memories.
What Is the Home Healthcare Process?
Discuss this type of treatment with your physician. If appropriate, they will recommend you start home healthcare and will then provide you with a referral. Our home healthcare specialists will visit you at home to get to know you and understand the care needed. We will then coordinate with your physician to ensure that the care plan is correct and that they receive regular updates on your condition. Most in-home healthcare programs are covered by Medicaid or Medicare. However, talk to your doctor to ensure that your health insurance covers home healthcare.
If In-Home Healthcare is Right for You
If you or a loved one is recovering from an injury or illness, talk to your doctor about the benefits of in-home healthcare. Infirmary Health offers in-home healthcare services from Thomas Hospital and Mobile Infirmary. Serving patients across Mobile and Baldwin Counties, our goal is to work with your physicians to give you the best possible care and support you need to heal. Contact your doctor today for a referral and to see if in-home healthcare is right for you.
