Home care linked to enhanced recovery rate of patients – health officials

Dec 12, 2019 News

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The Christmas season is often described as a time of perpetual hope; love and kindness usually abound. It is also the time of year that family members are the busiest making preparations for various festive activities.
But there is also a daunting side to this season that few even bother to talk about. Sadly this aspect of the season is perpe

trated by some who even claim to embrace the Christmas spirit.
In some families, there are persons who may be incapable of caring for themselves and therefore require support to make it through a given day.
However, with the ‘hustle and bustle’ of the season, some families find it especially difficult to continue to render their support. It is during this time of year that a number of incapacitated persons, seniors and young persons, too, are clandestinely shuttled off to medical institutions. Some are even abandoned there.
But this may not be the best option since the hospital environment could prove to be more harmful than good. This is in light of the fact that such environments could leave persons exposed to hospital-acquired infections also known as nosocomial infection.
A number of officials, including several at the country’s premier public health institution – the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation – have spoken out against the abandoning of patients for this reason, among others.
But abandoning a loved one should never be an option especially with the introduction of Caring Hands Healthcare Inc., an organisation that was launched in October of this year with a view of delivering unprecedented home care services.
Health officials have linked home care to an enhanced recovery rate of patients.
The gamut of services offered by this organisation is not free but, according to one of its Managers, Dental Surgeon Dr. Rhonda Joseph, there are packages offered that are fashioned according to the hours of service required.
Speaking of her decision to venture into home care on Kaieteur Radio’s [99.1FM and 99.5FM] health programme ‘Your Health Matters’ this week, Dr. Joseph disclosed that even before becoming proficient in the field of dental surgery, she had gained training in nursing.
It was her nursing training that caused her to caress the idea of delving into the home care venture.
“I did a degree in nursing, so nursing has always been my passion. Before I completed dentistry, I wanted to put my [nursing] degree to work so I decided to register a small business at the time…” Dr. Joseph revealed.
However, her attempt back then was not successful. With some tactical support from Cardiologist, Dr. Mahendra Carpen, who had long had a passion to delve into such a venture, Dr. Joseph was once again able to try her hands at home care.
According to Caring Hands Nursing Director, Nurse Nurelie Mohamed, who also appeared as a guest on the radio programme, the organisation provides care to a wide cross section of persons including young children, the elderly, convalescents, among others, right from the comfort of their homes.
The introduction of Caring Hands has already been proving to be instrumental since, according to Nurse Mohamed, “Many doctors discharge patients from hospital with instructions that must be followed but most of these instructions are not followed by those in whose care the patients are discharged.
“Some of them do not execute the discharge plan from the doctor either because they may not be equipped or experienced to execute the plan, although they might have the teaching from the hospital, they might forget.”
“Our nurses who are trained professionals, our physiotherapists and others they help to execute those duties to aid in the recovery of the clients…” said Nurse Mohamed who advised that persons are encouraged to call 624-2273 or visit the Caring Hands Camp Street, Georgetown office in the SRS building if they would like to learn more about the services offered. Among the services delivered are monitoring of blood pressure, dressing changes, assessing and correcting safety risks of the client’s home, physical therapy, speech therapy, assisting with household chores, companionship and much more.
“Persons should take advantage of home care services because psychologically both the family and the client would feel more comfortable in their own home and it will help with the client’s recovery,” said Nurse Mohamed.

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