When it comes to caring for others in a home health and hospice setting, SSM Health Care not only consistently stays in the top 20 percent performance wise, but former patients and their families would recommend their services to others.

During November's National Home Care and Hospice Month, Debbie Herring, of SSM Health Care, Home Care/Hospice of Northwest Missouri, said it's a great time to make their services aware to the public, and the fact that their company offers much-needed services to the communities of Atchison, Holt, Gentry, Nodaway, Northern Andrew and Worth counties. Home Care serves all of those counties, and Hospice serves all of them except Atchison.

Herring said this month is important in bringing to the forefront that there is a need for home care and hospice in the community, and that people should take advantage of the Medicare benefit.

"One of our strong points for both Home Care and Hospice is that our employees are located in these counties that we care for," Herring said.  "So we're your neighbors. We're here with you in the community, we go to church with you and we work side by side with you."

Medicare has a set of 11 criteria for institutions like SSM Health Care to meet, and of those 11, Herring said their facility is in the top 20 percent of all those but one — and they're really close to that one. Those criteria include looking at improvements in areas such as medication taking, getting in and out of bed and using the restroom.

Herring said this line of work is very rewarding, almost like a calling.

"The staff are very passionate about the care they give their patients and families," she said. "They go way above and beyond to make sure they're comfortable and make sure they're achieving their goals. Everybody has the same view — they want to deliver exceptional care."
When patients and their families were asked if they were likely to recommend SSM's services to friends and family, they responded with a 98 percent likelihood for home care, and a 100 percent likelihood for hospice care.

So far in 2008, SSM Health Care has served 49 patients and their families. Of those 49, Herring said seven of them were actually able to go into remission and go off of hospice care. And for home care, 257 patients were admitted to their care, while 2,540 received visits.
Over the months of September and October, Herring and SSM Health Care employees visited Maryville's local nursing homes to celebrate with root beer and coke floats. They also had a celebration with hospital employees, and will have their employee luncheon on Nov. 21.
SSM Home Care provides a variety of home care services to meet a variety of needs such as when extended care is required after a hospital stay, as an alternative to a hospital admission or instead of a nursing home or alternative care setting.

SSM Home Care services include: skilled nursing care, home health aides, nurses assistants, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language therapy, physical therapy, speech-language therapy, maternal, child, pediatric, nutritional counseling and medical social work.
SSM Hospice offers visits based on medical needs and under the direction of the patient's physician and the Hospice team. Services of the Medicare/Medicaid certified Hospice program include: drugs for symptom management and pain relief, short-term inpatient care, continuous care for brief periods of crisis, home health aide and homemaker services, physical, occupational and speech therapy, spiritual and other counseling services, physician services, skilled nursing, pastoral services, medical social services, home medical equipment and trained Hospice volunteers.

There are 17 employees at SSM Health Care, and all of them are cross-trained to work in both home care and hospice.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt has proclaimed Nov. 9-15 as Home Care Week, saying "that thousands of home care aides, nurses, therapists, social workers, and other healthcare professionals work to provide professional health services to Missourians in need of quality health care, allowing Missouri residents benefiting from these services to remain in their homes with loved ones."

For more information about home and hospice care contact Debbie Herring at (660) 562-7904 or (660) 562-7912. The SSM Health Care office is located at 1912 S. Main St. in Maryville.