NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Three Rivers Home Care Celebrates National Home Care & Hospice Month in November
Louisa, KY – Three Rivers Home Care called on all Americans to commemorate National Home Care & Hospice Month throughout November. TRHC also called attention to Home Care Aide Week on November 10 to 16. These critical workers play a central role in their patients’ lives, and NAHC recognizes their efforts with this year’s theme: “Home Care and Hospice Deliver Freedom.”
“Caring for the sick, elderly, chronically ill and those recovering from a recent hospital stay in their homes is a privilege and a passion of ours,” said Crystal Ferguson, Executive Director of Three Rivers Home Care. “Home health care professionals and volunteers working with modern medicine make it possible for people to stay in their homes, regardless of their condition.”
In coming years, home care and hospice are poised to play a central role in the delivery of healthcare throughout the country. A wide range of forces is joining to push care away from nursing homes and drive it toward home and community-based care. Based on demography and dollars, experts agree that the destiny of health care lies in the home.
There is growing demand for home care, yet the Medicare home health benefit has been cut by $77 billion over 10 years. The cumulative effect of these disproportionate cuts has been to weaken what was once a $17 billion industry by pushing thousands of providers to the point of bankruptcy. The cuts have an even more serious impact on patients by limiting their access to the care they need at home.
There will be even more patients who need home care as the 78 million baby boomers continue to age. The first of the boomers turned 65 last year and the rest will reach their golden years over the next two decades. As they do, health care dollars will grow even scarcer, especially if Medicare provides the boomers with costly institutional care.
But there is a better way. Home care is not just the preferred choice for most patients; it’s also the best bang for our health care dollars. It costs Medicare nearly $2,000 per day for a typical hospital stay and $559 per day for a typical nursing home stay. Meanwhile, home care costs just $44 a day on average. And home care, combined with technology, helps the many U.S. seniors who live at home to stay independent, enrich their lives, and keep in touch with those they love.
Home care aides also play a central role by joining in patients’ lives, whether this involves running errands, going with them to the doctor, or assisting them with medical conditions. Aides are there to provide seniors with company and conversation, and many aides are more than caregivers for their patients. They are often friends who give warmth and comfort to the aged and ill.
Three Rivers Home Care is a 2015 Center for Excellence and is recognized as a Home Care Elite agency once again for 2015. TRHC delivers exceptional care to patients in Lawrence and Martin Counties in Kentucky and Wayne County in West Virginia.
For more information, contact Three Rivers Home Care at 606-638-0521 or 304-648-5000.
