These stories illustrate to legislators how impactful home care is to their constituents, and why it is important that they create new laws and amend existing ones to maximize access to care for residents who need it most. Advocating for yourself or for a loved one is rewarding. In honor of Patient Recognition Week, below are several real life examples of clients in advocacy action.
Home care patients and families make all the difference. Thank you for all you do! Not only have legislators heard her voice loud and clear, but now other DE moms have heard her and thereby gained the confidence needed to share their stories too. Mendenhall is a year-old armed service Veteran with Dementia. Due to his diagnosis and the accompanying physical limitations, he needs constant supervision and support—including assistance with everyday activities, such as dressing, eating, bathing, toileting, and moving around.
Mendenhall lives at home with his wife, Margarite, of more than 50 years. She does her best to take care of her husband, despite her own medical challenges and limitations. While they both are frail, they are happy to be at home and together. They are able to stay at home through the home health aide services that he receives from his home health aide, Kashina , who comes in two hours per day to care for Mr. Her caregiving services enables Mr.
Mendenhall to remain as mobile as possible, as well as remain in his community. Zack Hawkins. This enabled Rep. Hawkins to see firsthand how home health aides help keep constituents costly and potentially infectious facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes. After Rep. To ensure they can live a full life at home. Care at home is an important option, less expensive, and where people want to be. LaToya Martin is a super-mom who fearlessly advocates for her son Massiah.
When she wrote an opinion piece for the Delaware Post , her powerful message led to many state legislators learning about how home care affects real people across the state. That message resonated not only with lawmakers, but also with moms and home care advocates from all parts of the US. Scary Mommy—one of the largest online resources for moms —even reshared her piece to the hundreds of thousands of readers that regularly access their site!
Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, he uses a Dynavox to communicate the importance of home care and the impact of his home health aides with his legislators! Mark and his mother travel to the state capitol in Harrisburg, and to Washington, D.
Times have really changed. Advocacy and new ways of thinking have created those changes. But much more needs to be done and much more can be done. We have to keep advocating for the changes and the opportunities we want. New Jersey mom Dana Insley steps up to the plate for any opportunity to advocate on behalf of her beloved daughter, Abi. This is a mere glimpse into the wide world of patient advocacy. Thank you to the many, many home care clients and families that take the time to advocate in a variety of ways.
From a brief video meeting with a legislator, to a home visit with your medically-fragile loved one, to writing to your local paper, sharing your story helps lawmakers see the importance of in-home care, and empowers you to act as a voice for the many who are unable to advocate for themselves. We recognize you and appreciate you. To get involved in advocacy in your community, contact advocacy bayada. After all, the letter stated there would be no change, he would still receive coverage for his home health care nursing and personal care home health aide services.
However, Jim was not convinced. The year-old, who suffered a spinal cord injury as a result of a diving accident 20 years ago, is nearly paralyzed from the neck down. He relies on his nurses for his complex medical needs, which include wound care, range of motion exercises, mechanical transfers to and from bed, medication administration, catheter care, and care to prevent a serious complication called autonomic dysreflexia, which can lead to seizures, stroke, or even death.
As a former sheriff and local fire commissioner, Jim is used to working collaboratively with others to make things happen. Fast forward to the end of the year when Jim received another letter, this time from the new insurance company. Despite written and verbal assurance that his coverage would not change, the new company denied his home health care services, insisting Jim was stable enough and no longer needed nursing care. Following the visit with Jim, Assemblyman Benson jumped into action.
In addition, he personally contacted the insurance company to negotiate the contract, resulting in a reversal of the denial. Thanks to his efforts, the issue was resolved within two weeks. Assemblyman Benson considered it a privilege to play a role in helping Jim.
I would encourage those in need to reach out to their elected representatives to learn what they can do for them. Whether you can give a minute, an hour, or a day, there are many ways to get involved in advocacy. It only takes five minutes to register at heartsforhomecare. The first-in-the-nation COLA adjustment was included in state legislation as a result of the advocacy efforts of GAO, client and employee Ambassadors and advocates, and Rhode Island industry partners, as well as a public affairs campaign that led to local print and broadcast media coverage on the need for regular rate reviews to ensure that reimbursements for home care services were adjusted annually to keep up with real costs of living and conducting business.
By continuing to advocate for the renewal of the COLA increase every year, then Rhode Island service offices will be able to—at their discretion—increase field staff wages, thereby increasing caregiver recruitment and retention rates and enabling clients to experience less missed shifts.
We often think of advocacy as sharing our stories, our challenges, and asking for legislative support in addressing those challenges. Recently, he wrote to Medicaid staff to thank them for resolving a critical issue that enabled him to continue these services. Medicaid staff are committed to improving health and well-being of North Carolinians, and their transactions are often behind the scenes and receive little recognition.
Hearts for Home Care applauds Medicaid staff across the country for their commitment to helping individuals stay at home, and we applaud Ari for his sincere thankfulness of their work. Through it all, the one and most important factor that has been consistent has been the capacity to care. Time and time again over the years I have had to get battle ready in order to keep my life-saving services.
However, instead having to scale cold-hard hearts, impenetrable like a fortress, you invited me into your hearts. You consistently agreed to provide for my intensive care in my home instead of a medical facility; which essentially would have been leaving me out in the cold to die.
Instead of fighting me you have been my allies, always being there for me when I needed you the most. These truths became ever more apparent a couple weeks ago.
For the past two years, my mom and I have been getting things ready to transfer my medications, physical therapy, and supplies to Medicare without de-stabilizing my PDN services under Medicaid.
It has been a mind numbing, complicated process. We have been hyper-vigilant not to miss any details that could easily be overlooked. Terrell told Saunja Wilson from PDN to double check if everything was in order by the end of the month. Thank God, Ms. The Advocacy People gives advocacy support.
VoiceAbility gives advocacy support. Call their helpline on for advice or use VoiceAbility's online referral form. Contact the charity Age UK to see if they have advocates in your area. Contact Age UK online or call Page last reviewed: 8 August Next review due: 8 August Ensure Safety.
Give Patients a Voice. Give patients a voice when they are vulnerable by staying in the room with them while the doctor explains their diagnosis and treatment options to help them ask questions, get answers, and translate information from medical jargon.
Educate patients on how to manage their current or chronic condition to improve the quality of their everyday life is an important way nurses can make a difference. Patients undergoing chemotherapy can benefit from the nurse teaching them how to take their anti-nausea medication in a way that will be most effective for them and will allow them to feel better between treatments. Double Check for Errors. Everyone makes mistakes. Nurses can catch, stop, and fix errors, and flag conflicting orders, information, or oversights by physicians or others caring for the patient.
Read the orders and previous documentation carefully, double check with other nurses and the pharmacist, and call the doctor if something is unclear before administering chemotherapy.
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