UM Shore Regional Health home care staff were among several home care and hospice providers on hand for the Talbot County Council’s official proclamation of November as National Home Care and Hospice Month. The proclamation, issued on November 18 at a regular meeting of the Council, noted that “home care services allow families to stay together and provide for greater health, dignity and comfort in our communities” and that “home care is a growing alternative to hospitalization or other institutionally-based forms of health care for acute and chronic illnesses, providing care to millions of Americans each year.”
Rita Holley
Shore Home Care and Chester River Home Care are the two Shore Regional Health agencies providing care to residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties in their homes and in residential care communities. The two agencies are now in the process of joining forces to become one home care entity under UM Shore Regional Health.
According to Shore Home Care Director Rita Holley, MS, BSN, RN, last year the two agencies admitted a total of more than 2,500 new or returning patients into their care. Holley adds, “You get a sense of the tremendous scope of home care when you realize that Shore Regional Health home care staff — nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, medical social workers and home health aides — made approximately 35,000 home visits to provide care for residents of a region that is home to 70,000 people.”
Holley also is proud of the exceptional dedication of home care staff. “When you are providing care in people’s homes, you get a close-up look at what their needs are and how their environment impacts their health and independence,” she says. “As a result, home care staff are always willing to do the extras to help their clients and their local communities — for example, conducting food drives for churches, providing holiday meals and gifts for families in financial need, and even having drives for pet food and supplies to be donated to local animal shelters.”
Shore Home Care staff with their proclamation from the Talbot County Council: Caren Wallstater, RN, Leslie Hambleton, Kristin Dickerson, Barbara Wells, RN, Trish Focht, RN, Michelle Hilton, Hope Taylor, RN, Brenda Richter, RN, Kelly Lord, RN, Kim Price, RN and Patricia Starkey, RNC
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