THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9610310179
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 19 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DEMPSEY, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 91 lines
Pat Blair's life has gone to the dogs. Three times in the past few years, collisions with dogs have resulted in broken bones.
After the most frequent break, she needed months of physical therapy to regain enough mobility to use a walker. But Blair couldn't tolerate the drive to the therapist, so her physician referred her to Tar Heel Home Health for therapy right in her Southern Shores home.
In a bygone era of medical care, Blair, 68, might have spent months in a hospital just to receive an hour of physical therapy services each day. The cost would have been monumental and the disruption of family life staggering.
``There really is no place like home,'' said Blair, who has recovered and now uses her walker unassisted.
About 20 years ago, commercial and government insurers agreed with consumers that patients like Blair belong at home as much as possible.
Home care is a fast growing field. During November, ``Home Care Month for North Carolina,'' 850 home care agencies in the state will be recognized for services to 200,000 residents.
On the Outer Banks, home care falls into four categories: home health agencies, in-home aid and personal care, specialized services and volunteer services.
Home health agencies serve patients like Pat Blair with short-term care - from checking blood pressure to physical therapy to 24-hour care. These agencies require a physician's orders.
On the Outer Banks, home health providers include: Britthaven of the Outer Banks, Tar Heel Home Health, and Dare County Home Health Services.
Dare County Home Health Director Doris Archibald said the program makes 7,000 in-home patient visits annually to about 250 families.
In-home aide or personal care programs serve people like Chris Smith. The 30-year-old Kill Devil Hills man has neurofibromatosis - neural tube tumors that have made him deaf and that make it difficult to move around the house without assistance.
A nursing aide from Compassion and Personal Care Services Inc. spends five hours a day, five days a week with Smith. She helps him prepare lunch, perform muscle tone exercises and assists in personal care.
Smith's mother and sole caregiver, Catherine, said life would be bleak without the service. She would either have to quit work to care for her son or place him in a long-term care institution.
``Now I can go to work with peace of mind, knowing he's safe most of the day,'' Smith said. ``Otherwise, I'd be worried sick all the time.''
In-home aide programs respond mainly to chronic conditions such as blindness, paralysis, psychiatric disorders, mental retardation and age-related problems.
Services include bathing, preparing meals, shopping, balancing the checkbook, traveling to a medical center and even pushing the garbage container to the roadside. No medical referral is necessary.
Compassion and Personal Care Services is the only private, licensed in-home aide program with offices on the Outer Banks. But the federal-state Medicaid funded Community Alternatives Programs is managed by the Department of Social Services for Dare County residents who need help with personal care and home management. Another part of CAP is administered by the Albemarle Mental Health Center headquartered in Elizabeth City with a branch office on the Outer Banks. It limits its focus to mentally retarded and developmentally disabled persons.
In addition to these in-home programs, Dare Hospice helps terminally ill patients remain at home as long as possible. At Your Service provides light housekeeping, companionship, meal preparation and grocery deliveries.
Volunteer services plug in the gaps. Two Outer Banks volunteer programs, for instance, deliver lunches for shut-ins, and a great deal of good cheer.
Anna May McCreedy's typical run with lunches reveals the more intimate side of volunteering. At one stop, an elderly woman accepts a meal with a heartfelt, ``May God bless you.''
Volunteers also transport patients to medical facilities. The Baum and Fessenden Centers average over 2,500 medical transports and about 30,000 miles per month.
Dan Midyette, 64, awes even his fellow volunteers. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, he drives four patients to Elizabeth City for kidney dialysis. The round trip takes a minimum of nine hours, and he frequently transports patients on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well. He's done this for nearly a year.
``Some time back, I needed Social Services and I'll never forget the wonderful help they gave me,'' Midyette says. Now I'm grateful I can pay the community back.''
The dedication volunteers and in-home professionals bring to their work is staggering. Pat Blair recites a litany of kind, courteous, caring professionals whom she now thinks of as friends.
She invites all of them to visit her any time, on one condition. ``If you bring dogs with you, I'll pull down the shades and pretend I'm not home.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JACK DEMPSEY
Volunteer Beryl Williams, right, delivers lunch to Gladys Mann. Two
Outer Banks volunteer programs deliver lunches and good cheer to
shut-ins. by CNB