(l) Tabor Crest Residential Care Facility owner Rodica Malos, DNP, Mary Ann Specht and HCP clinician, Amy Long, GNP. Mary Ann was so very grateful for the care her mother, Hazel Kennedy received from Tabor Crest and HCP.
The community partnerships that Housecall Providers has forged over the years have been a critical factor in our success at bringing in home medical care to the chronically ill. One particularly powerful connection has been our partnership with those who operate or own adult care homes and residential care facilities. Good communication, respect and the common goal of providing excellent patient-centered care are the hallmarks of these relationships.
Rodica Malos, DNP, is the owner and administrator of one such facility, Tabor Crest Residential & Memory Care in SE Portland. Clinicians from Housecall Providers have been making house calls to Tabor Crest for years. Malos, herself a nurse practitioner, values the many benefits her residents receive through in home medical care.
“Housecall Providers brings all the service that a doctor’s office has to each of my residents who need frequent primary care visits,” she said. “Those suffering from multiple acute and chronic physical and mental conditions are often in distress and discomfort and are unable to tolerate going to a medical clinic.”
The house call is a perfect fit for the residents of adult and residential care facilities, most of whom are elderly and struggle from some form of memory loss, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Travel for these residents is extremely difficult, so regular medical care often takes the back seat, leading in no time at all to chronic health problems. Lack of proper medical care creates anxiety and stress for the families, too, who worry constantly about their loved ones’ conditions. When Housecall Providers enters the picture, hospitalizations for those patients decrease, as does the stress that many families have felt for months or even years.
Mary Ann Specht knows this “stress scenario” all too well. Five years ago, her mother, Hazel Kennedy, was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Specht was dissatisfied with the care facility where her mother resided, and began to search for a better home. One rainy winter’s evening, Specht, burdened by her mother’s condition, found herself walking through the door at Tabor Crest. She knew instantly that her search was over.
“I was mad almost every day that she was at the other facility, and I wasn’t mad once when she was living at Tabor Crest,” Specht said. “They were so caring and my mom was always kept so clean – you can tell that they really care about their residents.”
Soon after her mother became a Tabor Crest resident, Malos suggested to Specht that she put her mother in the medical care of Housecall Providers. Amy Long, GNP, was making house calls to the facility and quickly got Hazel’s conditions under control. “Once Amy was in charge of my mom’s care, she never went to the hospital again,” Specht remembered.
Five years passed and the time came for Specht to consider hospice care for her mother. She chose Housecall Providers Hospice. It was a seamless transition and Specht appreciated how the hospice team laid out the parameters of what her mother would experience now that she was coming to the end of her life.
“They were all so very nice and consoling as I dealt with all the emotions that come with making a decision like that,” Mary Ann said. “They couldn’t have made it better for me and Mom’s passing was really beautiful.”
