Gritman Home Health is an exceptional resource for a variety of in-home medical services. Our goal is to meet the health care needs of people with a wide range of medical conditions. The Home Health and Hospice professional staff provides skilled nursing, post-operative or rehabilitative care, pain management, specialized therapies, personal care services, and referrals for medical equipment necessary for care in the home.

Our in-home services have a common goal--to enable you to experience a more comfortable recovery while continuing prescribed therapies at home. Most people are happier and recover faster at home. Look to Gritman Home health for a broad range of services and programs, including:

Skilled Nursing
Skilled nursing is provided by licensed professionals under the direction of the patient's physician and includes such services as:

• Comprehensive patient and caregiver teaching
• Individualized care planning
• IV therapy
• Diabetes management
• Restorative management
• Wound care
• Ostomy care
• Laboratory work

Our nurses provide necessary treatments, evaluate patient progress and communicate with the physician on an ongoing basis.

Maternal and Child Program
Our maternal and child home health program provides in-home medical care and support for new parents and children under the supervision of a physician. Nurses from Gritman's Family Birth Center can provide a full range of maternal services including prenatal monitoring to mothers experiencing complications before birth, postnatal monitoring for at-risk infants, certified lactation consultants for instruction, assessment of and solutions for breast feeding needs, and in-home phototherapy for treatment of newborns with jaundice. Consultation with a nurse is available 24 hours a day.

Intravenous Antibiotic Therapy
Home care for chronic infections is available through our intravenous antibiotic therapy program. This service is directed by a physician and managed by nurses trained in home-infusion therapy. Antibiotics can be administered by central line peripheral catheters as ordered by your physician, and are frequently administered by the patient or family following instruction by our nurses.

Rehabilitation Services
Home rehabilitation services are aimed at helping patients return to their highest level of functionality after an illness, injury or surgery. Our physical therapy program includes activities such as range of motion therapy, gait training, prosthetic training and strengthening exercises. Occupational therapies include working with daily living skills, upper extremity mobility and a variety of therapeutic exercises. Speech therapy services offer help with communication skills, language processing, memory and swallowing disorders.

Respiratory Care
The respiratory care service is provided for patients suffering chronic respiratory diseases and heart-related conditions affecting the pulmonary system. A wide range of therapies are provided, including oxygen therapy, aerosol therapy, drug nebulization and airway care. Nurses trained in respiratory care coordinate the individual's therapy according to physician orders.

Enteral and Total Parenteral Nutrition
Individuals who require nutritional therapy may take advantage of our enteral and parenteral nutrition services. Enteral, tube or gavage feeding provides nutrition for patients who are unable to swallow but have a functioning gastrointestinal tract. Both short- and long-term therapies are offered. Parenteral nutrition (the intravenous infusion of nutrients into a central vein) is prescribed for patients who are unable to take in sufficient nutrition orally or enterally.

Pain Management
In-home pain management services offer continuous or cyclic administration of narcotic analgesics by means of portable infusion pumps. Epidural catheters can be inserted by a Gritman Medical Center anesthetist, which permits the use of PCA pumps as a pain management option.

Home Health Aides
Certified home health aides are available to assist individuals with the activities of daily living such as eating, dressing, bathing and grooming.

Medical Social Workers
Our social workers focus on the social and emotional aspects of a patient's illness. Among the services provided are counseling for adjustment to illness, limitations, family conflicts and bereavement issues. We also provide access to community services related to assistance with medical bills and insurance claims.

Hospice of the Palouse
Hospice of the Palouse offers special in-home care that provides physical, psychological, social, spiritual and bereavement support for terminally ill patients and their families. Team members might include nurses, social workers, and home health aides, therapists, clergy, volunteers and bereavement counselors. Hospice of the Palouse was the first Medicare Certified hospice licensed in the State of Idaho.

There's No Place Like Home
That thought never rings truer than when you are recuperating from an illness or injury, or when you require extended medical care. Through Gritman Home Health you can remain in your home while receiving specialized medical services and individualized personal home care.

Quality Care in Your Home
Every Gritman Home Health service is physician supervised. Our staff conducts therapy according to the physician's treatment plan, regularly communicates with the physician and pereforms follow-up visits to assure program quality. Our services also enable you to take an active role in treatments and therapies which will make you less dependent on outside help and help you gain greater freedom and convenience. In every case we make sure that continuity of care is maintained. The same level of quality and effectiveness received from your physician or hospital continues in the home setting thanks to the planning, management and evaluation completed by our professional staff. Before discharge, we assess each individual's support system and financial needs. We also coordinate the delivery and maintenance of products and equipment needed by the patient upon discharge to Home Health. Our policies, procedures and quality assurance programs meet the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

The Gritman Home Health Advantage
Because Gritman Home Health is associated with Gritman Medical Center, we are able to call on the services of professional staff throughout the hospital. No other local home health program has the breadth or depth of professional services that can be offered by Gritman Home Health. Gritman Medical Center is proud to offer a continuum of care that extends from the medical and surgical floors of the hospital to the home, with the high standards demanded of a JCAHO Accredited Hospital and Home Care agency.

For more information about Gritman Home Health, ask your physician about our services or call (208) 883-2237.