Home Health Care Professionals are On the Road to Patient Recovery

For patients who live in the more outlying or rural areas of South Mississippi served by Forrest Health, Home Health Care is truly a blessing. The Laurel office serves patients in Jones, Wayne, Jasper, and Smith counties.

“Care at home means the world to these patients,” said Lisa Gatlin, RN, PCM, who oversees the Laurel Home Health Care office. “I don’t think a lot of people realize exactly what these nurses and therapists do in the home. These people are so sick when they come home. They are bedbound, they have wounds, and some of them can’t walk. We get them home and over time teach them how to get out of the bed, get out of the home, and get in the car so they can go to programs and not miss special events like birthday parties, graduations, weddings, and other special events.”

The Home Health Care team offers services by registered nurses, speech, physical and occupational therapists, and aides. Once Forrest Health established Home Health Care with the purchase of a local agency in July 1985, the Laurel office was the first to open one year later.

Gatlin said she thinks sometimes the community doesn’t have an idea what Home Health Care workers do when they go into a person’s home other than take their vital signs and things like that. She’s quick to say that is not the case.

“We can administer IVs at home and tend to a patient’s wounds. In fact, we can pretty much do anything they can do in the hospital,” she said. “People have chest tubes, wound vacs, drains, and they are just sick. But they can be taken care of in the comfort of their home.” She said a lot of patient caregivers don’t believe they can care for a patient when a Home Health Care worker is not there but they can. “We teach them every step they need to take care of the patient,” Gatlin said. “And they do a great job and their loved one ends up staying out of the hospital and enjoys spending that time at home.”

Gatlin said when she first started in Home Health Care there weren’t a lot of cancer patients, but things have changed. Now there are a lot of cancer patients who receive treatment at home. “Their life is already turned upside down,” she said. “And it seems like they are back and forth to the doctor’s office every day for this or that or a chemo treatment. But these days our Home Health Care staff is seeing more and more cancer patients and are able to treat more of what they need at home, so they aren’t actually having to go to the doctor so much. I think it helps them get stronger and recover quicker.”

Gatlin noted that in many of these homes the lack of family, caregivers, or transportation creates problems for patients getting to and from doctor’s appointments. “We have a huge impact on our patients that live in some of the more rural areas of the county that many people have never heard of. And most of these patient’s doctors are in Hattiesburg, which is a two-hour drive. If we can help take a load off of them in any way, we’re going to do everything we can.”

Gatlin said they may not check on patients, because some are retired or on fixed incomes and may not have the money to go back and forth to a doctor two or three times a week.  “We are here to help with that, facilitate things, or call the doctor for them,” she said.

When Home Health Care nurses hit the road in the morning, they know to pack snacks and water, because the better part of their day may be spent on the road. “They know where every bathroom and food stop is between here and where they are going,” she said, “but being able to provide the variety of services we offer to patients in some of the more rural parts of the four counties we cover is a blessing to these patients and that makes it all worthwhile.”