A June 29 letter to the editor commented on the shortage of nurses available for home care or "visiting nurses" in Jamestown. This letter overlooks a long-standing tradition of home health services in our community. I'd like to set the record straight for all those looking for a nurse or other health professional to make home visits: Jamestown Hospital Home Health provides these services in Jamestown and surrounding communities.
For more than 40 years, Jamestown Hospital Home Health has had a visiting nursing program. Thousands of nursing, therapy, home health aide and social work visits have been made in Jamestown, Edgeley, Kulm and Medina areas since the program's inception. Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance such as Travelers or Mutual of Omaha pay for these visits, aimed at restoring health and arranging for services with the goal of independent living. Patients who need Home Health are referred to us by concerned families, local health care providers and from as far away as the Mayo Clinic.
Jamestown Hospital Home Health recently became the first agency in North Dakota to receive two Gold Star Achievement Awards from North Dakota Health Care Review. The award recognized our agency for improving care in areas of medication management and prevention of acute care hospitalization. We have been certified by Medicare since 1966 and accredited since 1988 by our nation's foremost advocate for quality care, the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation.
Jamestown Hospital Home Health employs 11 registered nurses and three aides with decades of cumulative experience. Home care visits are made seven days a week, 365 days a year. Jamestown Hospital Home Health recently became the first home health agency in the state to have Honeywell HomMed telehealth monitors available so our patients can have their vital signs checked even when the nurse is not in the home. This bonus comes at no cost to the patient.
All those interested in home health care services should contact Jamestown Hospital Home Health by calling the hospital switchboard at 252-1050 or the Home Care office at 952-4847, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
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(Sietz is the community services manager for Jamestown Home Care)
