Home Health Services in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties

As of 2018, over 20% of the population of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties were older adults, more than a third of whom live by themselves. As this population continues to age, increasing numbers of them will require the assistance of health care services, not including the existing patients with long term and serious illness and injuries. Having in-home healthcare services available to patients helps them heal in place with comfort and independence, allowing them to stay in their own homes for the duration of their retirement years and out of a hospital environment.

Everybody Wins with Quality Care at Home

Home Health care references a wide range of in-home health services that are provided to those where it’s a taxing effort to leave their home in order to receive the healthcare they need. It also allows for care in the comfort and privacy of their homes. Not only is it easier and more convenient for people to receive the services they need at home, in a quiet restful environment, but it is generally more cost-effective and covered by insurance. There is no difference as to the quality of care provided, and older adults find the comfort of care in-home to help facilitate the healing process.

Ideally, the goal of any company in the business of patient care at home is to improve the quality of their patients’ lives. Whether a patient is recovering from an illness or surgery, managing a disease, or nearing the end of life, home health care recognizes that the worthy endeavor to alleviate patient pain, increase the quality of life, and provide expert clinical care in the home.

By providing such care, home health helps patients avoid assisted living and re-hospitalization. It does so by providing healthcare expert clinical care that maintains independence, focuses on quality of life, fulfillment, and dignity.

Services Provided

People with injuries and serious illnesses as well as older adults in their golden years in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties will benefit from healthcare services currently available to them at home. Each person’s needs are different, but the type of care that a home health service might provide includes skin and wound care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, home health aides, medication management, social worker support, dietary support, palliative care education, and the monitoring of symptoms such as blood pressure, glucose levels, and other important health indicators. Increasingly, patients are monitored at home via Internet technology.

Telehealth is one example of this technology. Without ever having to leave the comfort of their own homes, patients are able to have their vital signs monitored quickly and easily. Wireless technology and the Internet relay the information gathered to the patient’s medical team and family. This type of monitoring is an adjunct to regular home visits and not a substitute.

Palliative care is another type of care that is available to patients. It focuses on the patient’s comfort, as opposed to treatment, and is one of the critical components of end-of-life care. Pain and discomfort impede healing. This care improves life quality and is different from hospice care in that it is appropriate at any point within illness or disease that there is pain present. Examples of the sort of symptoms palliative care addresses include nausea (including nausea resulting from treatments such as chemo), insomnia, constipation, and most importantly, pain management.

Overstating the Obvious

It really can’t be overstated that simple peace of mind is possibly the best benefit of receiving any of these necessary health-related services at home. Patients and their families alike are relieved by both the help and the ease with which it arrives.

It is no longer necessary for a patient with mobility issues to have to leave home to receive health care. An even better benefit is the fact that the care they receive is on par with any of the same services provided in a hospital, nursing home, or doctor’s office setting.

If a person or someone they love is in a healthcare crisis, recovering from surgery, managing a disease, terminally ill, or suffering the effects of a traumatic accident, they will benefit greatly from capable home health care. The value of having one’s health care needs attended to at home is not always understood until one is faced with healthcare challenges and circumstances face.