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During a recent Rotary of Morristown meeting, its members were educated on the current home health care that is available to those who live in the Lakeway Area by way of a program presented by Amedysis Home Health.

“This is a topic we can all relate to at some level,” Justin Cook, Rotary of Morristown President, said. “To honor these folks at difficult times in their lives. We look forward to hearing more about the work you do. I know a lot of us, like me, probably have a general idea, so we’ll get a chance to hear about the services you provide, the care you provide and the partnerships you have in the community.

“Thank you for having all of us,” Catie Shaw, RN, who serves as Amedisys Care Transitions Coordinator, said. I’ve been with the company for about four years. Shaw introduced Adrienne Norton, area sales manager, and Hannah Brock, RN, account executive.

“Our goal is to assist you in managing your overall health in the home and to help you regain your independence,” Shaw said. “We have skilled nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy and home health aides. Of course we can’t go out to your home until we have your doctor’s order.”

“We also want to help keep you out of the hospital. If you’ve recently been diagnosed with a chronic illness, some serious disease that you’re not familiar with – or if you’ve been prescribed new medications that you’re not familiar with, you’re just not really sure what they’re for or how to take them, reach out to us, reach out to your doctor, we’d like to help you,” Shaw said.

Amedisys offers the services of LPNs and RNs who are on staff 24-7, including weekends.

“Our nurses can do IV fluids in the home,” Shaw said. “If you’ve recently had COVID or the flu and you need to get your strength back, we’d love to do those in the home so you’re not rushing to the ER to get those fluids.”

Amedisys also provides lab work for its in-home patients.

“We recently called a patient to ask how they were doing, to check on them, and they said they wanted us back but wanted to wait until after a doctor’s appointment which was a month from then,” Shaw said. “She had all these issues going on. I said, ‘Hey do you mind – I’m going to your doctor’s office later today anyway, would you mind me talking with her?’”

The patient agreed and during the discussion, the doctor indicated she would prefer Amedysis staff go out to the patient’s home that day – “I want you to lay eyes on her, get her lab work and come back to me,” the doctor said.

“Thank goodness we did,” Shaw said, “Because otherwise she would have ended up in the hospital if we had not gone into her home and intervened before that next doctor’s appointment. We are kind of the middle man between the doctor and the hospital.”

Occupational therapists are available through Amedisys to help with daily activities.

“If you or a loved one has had a stroke, even the smallest tasks are not the same: brushing your teeth, brushing your hair, getting dressed, taking a shower. We can help you get back to your daily life and get your independence back,” Shaw said.

“Our physical therapists, for example, can help someone who has had a fall recently. And a fall doesn’t necessarily mean hitting the floor. If you have a loved one who, every time they get to a couch, they might just fall back versus actually sitting down, we’d love to go in there and help get their strength back.”

Amedysis accepts most all insurances, including traditional Medicare, according to Norton. She said that since Shaw and Brock are both RNs, their visits throughout the community include general physicians’ offices, orthopedic practices, hospital systems, skilled nursing facilities.

“If your family members or friends are having a tough time choosing a home health agency, we consider ourselves the premier agency in Morristown,” Norton added. “You can get on medicare.gov, type in home health and star ratings come up. Ours is hard to beat and we’re very proud of that. Information, including competitors’ ratings is right at your fingertips so that’s a really good way to figure out which agency you want to utilize.”

“One of the best things about our company is that our clinicians are local to Morristown,” Norton said. “Everybody lives here.”

“You are not waiting for your clinician to come in from an hour away, they don’t live in Johnson City or Knoxville,” Shaw said. “Everybody’s local and they’ve all been with us ten years plus. So they might go to church with you or are friends with your family or friends. We’re very proud of to say that to.”

“They’ve worked with us a long time. They know the area, they know the community. That’s worth its weight in gold,” Norton said.

Amedisys also offers same-day admissions.

“We can get a referral from a doctor’s office. For example, they might say, ‘We need you to get out to this house immediately, this patient needs X-Y-Z.’ And we are one company that can get there very quickly, the same day we get the order,” Norton said. “We are proud to be able to tell people that. You make a phone call that morning, we’re going to be out there by lunch, or a little bit past lunch. That’s another differentiator for our company.”

Another service offered by Amedisys is assistance with breathing for patients.

“We deal with a lot of people who have breathing problems, who are on oxygen,” Brock said. “So we have different techniques – we often use what is called a ‘breather’ – and we have other techniques that can be used in the home and we also relay all information back to your physician so they know everything that’s going on.”

Any critical lab information gathered by staff is called into physicians immediately.

“We’re calling in right away; that way, if you have a UTI (urinary tract infection), they can get you set up with antibiotics that day just to make sure things do not progress,” Brock said.

“We like to say that we’re another set of eyes and ears in the home, communicating to physicians, communicating to family members. It’s just a really good continuum of care to keep our community members not only safe, but healthy,” Norton said.

A doctor’s order is required to receive Amedysis services. Brock and Shaw are the direct contacts with physicians. If a patient has seen their physician within the past 90 days, an immediate visit is possible with the order. Telehealth visits are available, if the patient has not visited their doctor in person within the past 90 days. If the patient or a family member does not have internet access or an email address, Amedysis staff can facilitate the telehealth appointment by visiting the patient in person and accessing the internet on a company tablet.

“That just saves them from not being seen by the doctor, and we are a set of eyes in there for the doctor, also,” Brock said.

A simple phone call to the Amedysis store front can prompt a visit, according to Norton. The office receives phone calls from assisted living locations regarding patients who are being discharged. Pharmacy staff will also call if they see that a regular customer is suddenly struggling with simple tasks.

“The home health benefit is paid for 100% by Medicare,” Norton said. “This is a system that our loved ones have paid into and they need to utilize it.”

Amedysis also employs a social worker who can assess situations where, for example, a working adult may need assistance in caring for a family member part-time. There are sitters available, through a partner company, who can help with bathing, grocery shopping or meal preparation.

“We have many resources at our fingertips,” Norton said.

Other skilled nursing services offered include wound care, catheter changes, lymphedema wraps, medication management, for example – “It’s more than just going in and checking vital signs,” Shaw said.

There are instances where a patient may not be able to accurately communicate their situation, whether its embarrassment, pride or they just believe they are doing better than they actually are.

“A lot of time when we are in the home, we can convey the reality to the people who need to know,” Norton said.

For more information, call the Amedysis office at 423-586-0106.

Victoria Bowen, Executive Director of Life Care Center and Rotarian, was the host for the program.