Sometimes health care can’t be delayed. And one group of islanders wants to ensure there’s never a question of whether health care can wait or not.
The Friends of Home Healthcare and Hospice organized as a nonprofit in 1984 in a response to needs demonstrated by patients and families without adequate financial resources.
“Some patients do not have medical insurance or have insurance that does not cover all needed services,” explained Louis Michalski, president of the Friends of Home Healthcare and Hospice.
Saturday, Oct. 6, the Friends of Home Healthcare and Hospice will host its annual benefit luncheon, fashion show and auction to raise money to continue the group’s mission. The event is one of two major fund-raisers the Friends of Home Healthcare and Hospice host each year to help ensure no patient is left without proper care.
The Friends provided more than $48,000 in financial assistance in 2006 to more than 250 patients and families.
“The difference of what patients can afford and the cost of medical care covered by insurance is often drastically different,” said Judy Moore, Home Healthcare and Hospice administrator. “Help from the Friends makes a huge difference when -people need services they can’t afford.”
The program administrator said she and her staff are eternally grateful to the Friends for allowing their patients to obtain services without worrying about their finances.
“If people have an emergency and they go into the hospital or ER they’re going to get the services one way or another because they’re immediately needed,” Moore said. “With us there’s always the temptation to say they can get by without.”
The Friends of Home Healthcare and Hospice of Whidbey General is what can be considered a “cradle to grave service” that can be utilized by everyone from young persons debilitated in a car accident to senior citizens homebound after a stroke, Moore said.
The Friends have a volunteer board of directors, consisting of 17 members and headed by Michalski, that represents all of Whidbey Island. The board meets quarterly to evaluate patient and program needs so it can allocate funds accordingly.
“I just felt like someone needed to do something to support the patients,” Michalski said of why he joined the group three years ago.
Each year the group hosts its annual luncheon with fashion show and auction in the fall, and in spring conducts a letter writing campaign to gain needed private tax-deductible donations, Michalski said.
The Home Healthcare and Hospice program serves patients who are in need of medical services, are essentially confined to their home, and have an attending physican providing orders for care.
“Typically we’re with patients for about two months,” Moore said. “But the duration of service can also be only a few weeks or several months.”
In 2006 the program served more than 860 patients and families and provided 130 foot clinics.
“We’re one of the most well-kept secrets on Whidbey,” Moore said. “I wish people knew about it sooner than when they’re in the position to need it themselves.”
Services provided include skilled nursing, speech therapy, home health aides, occupational therapy, physical therapy, medical social work, oncology clinical specialty, wound care, spiritual care counseling, music therapy, and bereavement services.
Whidbey General’s Home Healthcare and Hospice program is the only Medicare certified agency based on Whidbey, and the team of 30-something staffers collaborates with area agencies and services to provide the best possible care for its patients. An increasing trend in health care will only increase the island’s need for the program, Moore said.
“The biggest change in the health care system today is the complexity of the care patients are expected to manage at home,” she said. “But along with that, the options patients have for care are increasing and we want to be a resource for them.”
