There's no place like the comfort of home when you're recuperating from an illness or recovering from surgery. Home Care Services specialized healthcare team can help make that possible . . . and with the reassurance that your every medical need is addressed. The home health agency's skilled nurses, occupational and physical therapists, speech and language dietitians, home health aides and social workers can come to your home and provide the personalized follow-up medical care you need.

Home Care Services require a physician's referral and are covered by most insurance plans. Among them are:

• Skilled Nursing Services. Registered, licensed, bonded nurses can provide a full range of care requested by physicians including such services as managing medications, changing catheters, overseeing tube feedings, helping with ostomy care and handling injections.
• Diabetes Services. Certified diabetes educators work with teams of professionals to help patients manage their diabetes at home. These healthcare practitioners assist with meal planning and nutritional guidance, insulin injections, blood glucose monitoring, lifestyle changes, pump maintenance, exercise plans, community resources referrals and other related care.
• IV Therapy. This service often allows patients to go home sooner than expected after being hospitalized or prevents them from being hospitalized at all by bringing the skilled treatment and attention of medical professionals right into their homes. Services are available 24 hours a day and include total parenteral and enteral nutrition, IV antibiotics, fluid replacement, chemotherapy, pain management, blood and blood product transfusions and immunotherapy.
• Rehabilitation Services. Rehabilitation therapists provide skilled, hands-on care in the comfortable surroundings of patients homes. Physical, occupational and speech therapists are specifically trained to handle rehab needs resulting from stroke, head injury, neurological diseases, arthritis, orthopedic surgery, bone fractures, amputation, heart attack, lower back and joint pain, and general overall weakness following illness.
• Palliative Care Services. Palliative care aims to relieve suffering and improve the quality of life for the families and patients with advanced illness. Pain and symptom control is provided, as well as emotional support and counseling.
• Pain Management Nursing Services. Certified pain management nurses work with referring physicians to help patients control their pain and achieve some comfort with minimal side effects. The service is appropriate for anyone who experiences chronic pain.

HomMed Health Monitoring System

Patients and their families can ensure in-home daily health monitoring through Home Care Services partnership with HomMed L.L.C. The HomMed Health Monitoring System can be a benefit to those with chronic illness or other health conditions that require regular monitoring of heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, temperature and weight. The collected information is automatically transmitted to Home Care Services clinical staff, who reviews patient reports and responds appropriately to results.

Hospice

Home Care Services hospice program serves the terminally ill and their families by addressing the issues surrounding the process of dying. In doing so, specially trained caregivers and volunteers focus on helping patients and their family members work through the final stage of life with hope and dignity. Hospice patients are cared for by a team of professionals including physicians, the hospice medical director, registered nurses, social workers, certified nursing assistants, trained volunteers and clergy. Pain management and symptom control are emphasized, as are psychological and spiritual support. Services include:

• Treatment that helps patients get pleasure from each day and avoid feeling isolated or alone.
• Support for family members and friends during the illness, and bereavement care after the loved one's death.
• On-call emergency nursing service, 24 hours a day.
• Coverage by Medicare, Medicaid, Champus and private insurance health plans.

Lifeline Personal Response Service

To help patients continue to live in the homes they love, Chesapeake Regional Medical Center offers Lifeline, the nation's leading personal response and support service. Lifeline is an easy-to-use service that ensures that older adults living at home get quick assistance whenever it is needed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. At the press of the personal help button, a certified Lifeline monitor responds within seconds with the appropriate help.

Home Care Services are available in Chesapeake and the surrounding Hampton Roads cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Suffolk.

Accreditation

Chesapeake Regional Home Care Services is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations. Comfort Care Hospice also is a member of the Virginia Association of Hospices and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

For more information  call 757-312-6460 or e-mail us at homehealth@chesapeakeregional.com.

Hospice

Care and compassion can make a great difference in the well-being of patients who are seriously ill. The Hospice program unites the skills of a dedicated team to treat and comfort terminally ill patients and their families at home. As part of the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center family of services, our hospice program provides qualified caregivers to treat each patient's unique needs. Pain management and symptom control are emphasized, as are psychological and spiritual support. If someone you know is facing a life-limiting illness, chances are we can help. Our services include:

• Care from specially trained professionals and volunteers.
• Treatment that helps patients get pleasure from each day and not feel isolated or alone.
• Support for family members and friends during the illness, and bereavement care after the loved one's death.

Hospice was developed at Chesapeake General Hospital in 1994 and received full Medicare certification in 1995. Hospice is a Medicare/Medicaid-certified agency, which also is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations. Membership has been maintained in both the Virginia Association of Hospices and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

Hospice philosophy

Hospice is a paradox. It serves the terminally ill and addresses all the issues around the process, but its real value lies in its focus on life in helping patients and their family members work through the final stage of human growth. It's about living with hope and dying with dignity.

Hospice considers death to be a natural part of the life cycle. When death is inevitable, hospice will seek neither to hasten nor to postpone it. We believe that psychosocial, emotional and spiritual pain is as significant as physical pain and other symptoms, and that relief requires the skills and approach of an interdisciplinary team.

The purpose of hospice is to enhance the quality of life of the terminally ill, and to support the family in caring for and keeping their loved one comfortable in the home. The goal of our program is to support patients who no longer wish to continue curative treatment or when the side effects of curative therapies outweigh potential long-term benefits.

Hospice services

Hospice services are offered, upon approval by a physician, to individuals who are terminally ill. Our nursing staff is on call for emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Services are covered by Medicare, Medicaid, Champus and private insurance health plans.

Your attending physician and the hospice staff will work with you and your family to set up a plan of care that meets your specific needs. As a hospice patient, you will be cared for by a team of professionals including your physician, the hospice medical director, registered nurses, social workers, certified nursing assistants, trained volunteers and clergy.

Typical services include visits from staff who are specially trained to address pain-control issues, nutrition, hydration, hygiene, family resources, and support for family members and friends during the illness. We help our patients find pleasure in each day and not feel isolated or alone.

When is hospice appropriate for my family member?

The following list highlights the considerations that usually need to be addressed when a family is considering hospice care. Please keep in mind that this list is not all-inclusive and those patients and their families are usually the best determinants of their own particular care needs.

• The physician has changed the focus of treatment from curative to palliative care and this has been discussed with the patient and the family members.
• The patient and family now require more support and resources than can be rendered by a traditional home health program.
• The patient and or family members desire hospice or want to find out more about the hospice program.
• The physician or patient is interested in more information regarding pain management and symptom control and is interested in having hospice staff intervene for this purpose.

Service area

Hospice services are provided in the city of Chesapeake and other surrounding cities in the Hampton Roads, Va., area including Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Suffolk.

Volunteer opportunities

Patients depend on hospice care and Hospice depends on volunteers. Hospice volunteering offers a special way of caring for people with terminal illnesses and their families. To find out more about becoming a hospice volunteer, please call 757-312-6109.

Donations welcome

If you'd like to make a contribution to the Hospice click here.

When you make a memorial or honorarium contribution to hospice, the designated family or person will receive notification without mentioning the amount of your gift. Checks should be made out to Chesapeake Regional Health Foundation. Call 757-312-6314 or e-mail us at foundation@chesapeakeregional.com for more information.

Contact us

We welcome any questions, comments or suggestions you may have about hospice and its programs or services. Please feel free to contact us by any of the ways listed below.
hospice@chesapeakeregional.com. Phone: 757-312-6460