Services

 

Skilled Nursing

The skilled nursing team at CVHCare is made up of Registered Nurses (RN) and Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVN). Our agency uses the case management model, in which an RN is put in charge of monitoring a patient’s overall care. In most cases, an RN will be the first visiting clinician to perform your overall assessment. In partnership with your primary care physician, the RN will then develop an individualized plan of care, focusing on your specific needs. Under the supervision of an RN, an LVN may assist with follow-up visits and treatment.

 

In addition to customized care and patient instruction for chronic disease management, our skilled nurses provide simple to complex wound therapy, post-surgical care, and ostomy care management. In ostomy care management our nurses help to maintain and teach you to care for an ostomy--the pouch system at a body opening, created by surgery, for removal of body wastes. CVHCare nurses are also trained to provide a variety of specialty programs, including:

 

Wound VAC

Our nursing team is professionally trained to manage KCI, Smith & Nephew, and Genadyne wound VAC systems.

 

Home Infusion Therapy

Home infusion therapy allows patients to receive vital fluids, nutrition, and medications without the inconvenience or costs of hospital confinement. We partner with home infusion pharmacies and their primary care providers to come up with a plan of care, specifically focusing on prescribed intravenous medications administered at home. Your individualized treatment plan with CVHCare will take into account the best and most effective method of infusion and the duration of care, and this treatment plan will change as your condition improves. Our highly trained RN’s will administer therapy, teach you and your caregiver how to administer IV therapies at home, and provide health education to you and your family about maintaining your IV therapy at home. Nurses also help ensure vital communication among patients, pharmacies, and physicians about home infusion therapies. The types of home infusion therapies provided by CVHCare nurses include:

 

• Drug Therapy - Antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral, pain management drugs administrated via intravenous infusion.

• Hydration Infusion Therapy - Fluids, electrolytes and other additives administered via intravenous infusion.

• Inotropic Infusion Therapy - Used to treat patients with heart failure. Medication to manage the patient's cardiac condition and ensure optimal quality of life is administered continually, 24 hours a day, without a disruption.

• Parenteral Nutrition (TPN/PPN) – A customized liquid formula is used to supply calories and nutrition to a patient who is either unable to eat or who requires additional caloric intake. The formula is carefully calculated to meet the specific needs of the patient and administered by pump through a central intravenous infusion or PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) line. 

• Intrathecal Pump Refill - Nurses provide refill, calibration and management of drug delivery devices that are implanted in the patient's body to administer medicines that relieve pain and control spasticity. These metal pumps are usually placed in the patient’s abdomen to deliver medication via catheter to the patient’s spine.

 

Enteral Nutrition Therapy

Enteral Nutrition – CVHCare nurses assist with the delivery and maintenance of enteral nutrition or feeding tubes, and teach patients and their caregivers about this type of nutrition therapy. In enteral nutrition, patients obtain food via non-sterile liquids through a tube placed into the nose (called a nasogastric tube) which is threaded directly into the stomach or bowel. This liquid nutrition can also be delivered through a tube placed into the skin and then directly into the stomach or bowel (called a gastrostomy or jejunostomy tube). Patients who receive this type of therapy often have a functioning or partially functioning intenstinal tract, but may have disorders of the pharynx, esophagus, or stomach. An infusion pump may be used to assist the flow of liquids.

 

Physical Therapy

The physical therapy (PT) team at CVHCare is made up of state-licensed Physical Therapists (PT) and Physical Therapy Assistants (PTA). Our physical therapy team members are highly skilled, and come from a variety of clinical backgrounds. As well as being experienced in the most effective and current techniques for improving mobility, CVHCare physical therapists are knowledgeable about motivating patients to succeed.

 

Initially, a PT will evaluate your movement abilities, strength and current level of function, while setting goals to improve balance, walking, transfers from bed to chair and toilet, and patient education. You and your family will be fully involved in developing the physical therapy plan of care that your primary care physician will ultimately approve. Unlike a rehabilitation setting or even an outpatient clinic, CVHCare home health places an emphasis on safe mobility in and around your residence. Treatment programs include exercises that help you move around your home despite the challenges there: Uneven ground surfaces, daily distractions, and items that can increase the risk of falling. PTs will advise you about ways to minimize your risk of falling at home, and even teach you how to fall without injuring yourself. CVHCare physical therapists will also make recommendations about equipment that can aid your mobility, provide training on the proper use of this equipment and train family members or caregivers to help you maintain your exercise program.

 

CVHCare adheres to Medicare guidelines on skilled functional outcomes and documentation requirements.

 

Occupational Therapy

CVHCare also employs state-licensed Occupational Therapists (OT) and state-certified Occupational Therapy Assistants (COTA) for home healthcare provided to CVHCare patients. While physical therapy may build overall mobility and strength, occupational therapy focuses more on accomplishing specific daily activities and movements. The patient’s home and nearby environment is the perfect location to receive this skilled service.

 

Utilizing common items at home or special adaptive equipment, the OT will train the patient--and the caregiver to assist--in activities such as grooming, dressing, toileting and bathing. The OT is also trained to teach advanced activities, such as cooking, housekeeping, laundry and shopping. The occupational therapy team focuses on community re-integration too--that is, resuming activities in the community or at work. The OT mayalso introduce patients to leisure activities that encourage holistic health and wellness.

 

Speech and Language

Our Speech and Language Pathologists (SLPs) are state-licensed healthcare professionals that specialize in mild to severe speech, voice, swallowing and other related disorders, resulting from disease, disorder or illness. Using written and oral tests, as well as special instruments, an SLP will diagnose the nature and extent of impairment, and analyze speech, language and swallowing irregularities. Our SLPs will strive to help you recover and/or restore reliable communication skills and maximize speech, language, cognitive and swallowing abilities. The speech and language pathologist will also partner closely with family members or caregivers to provide strategies to maintain functional communication. After a patient is discharged from the a hospital or rehab facility, it is imperative that speech therapy continue at home. With orders from your physician, CVHCare™ can begin Speech Therapy as a primary service.

 

Medical Social Work

The CVHCare social work team consists of both Medical Social Workers (MSWs), as well as Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs). Social workers provide valuable services that help connect patients and their families with community resources for social, emotional, financial and personal support (such as transportation and meal programs), associated with illness and recovery. Medical social services are just some of the additional services that we have available to improve the psychosocial well-being of our patients and their families.

 

Registered Dietitian

Our Registered Dietitians (RD) provide important services to our home health patients, and have expertise in dietary principles and nutritional counseling. After an initial assessment has been completed, an RD will develop and implement a nutritional plan based on the patient's medical diagnosis and current habits and physician recommendations. By promoting healthy eating habits, advising dietary modifications and providing nutritional education, RDs support the treatment and prevention of illness.

 

Home Health Aide

The CVHCare Home Health Aides (CHHA) are state-certified paraprofessional member of the home care team and work under the supervision of a Nurse or Therapist to help with basic daily activities. The CHHA assists with activities such as getting in and out of bed, dressing, bathing, grooming, oral hygiene, skin care, foot care, feeding/eating, assistance with ambulation and transfers, changing position in bed, and light housekeeping. Our CHHA may also provide assistance with tasks that support our skilled clinical services, including checking temperature, pulse, and respiration rates, and helping patients practice exercises or repetitive routines that are prescribed as therapy.