In this episode of Help Choose Home, we welcome Johanna Beliveau, DNP, MBA, RN, President and Chief Executive Officer of Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire (VNH). Serving the Upper Connecticut River Valley region since 1907, VNH is a nonprofit organization that provides nursing, rehabilitation, hospice and personal care services to more than 140 towns in Vermont and New Hampshire.
Dr. Beliveau is an experienced healthcare leader with 25 years in nursing practice. Leveraging her industry expertise, Dr. Beliveau is a passionate advocate for delivering healthcare at home and is especially focused on increasing care options for those in the rural communities that VNH serves.
Topics discussed include:
- The importance of developing program-specific teams to deliver effective care at home
- Rural versus urban care
- The ways in which home care services provide greater access of services to those in rural communities
- What makes home-based care unique
- The importance of consumers advocating for care and ultimately driving change in the home care industry
Conversation Highlights:
Dr. Beliveau believes that one of the important roles of VNH is to provide rural communities with greater access to care. Committed to delivering outstanding home and community-based health and hospice services that enrich the lives of the people they serve, VNH makes home visits to people of all ages and all stages of life, regardless of ability to pay, and provides communities with education and wellness programs.
To successfully serve more than 6,000 people each year and cover over 4,000 square miles, VNH must use team members in a variety of ways. By developing program-specific teams, care staff can focus their deep expertise and knowledge to deliver expert care for a variety of needs: home health, hospice, palliative care, maternal health and more. It is not unusual for clients to receive visits from more than one program-specific team to ensure needs are met.
For members of the VNH team who live in the same communities as the clients they care for, the work is personal. While the core of care is similar to what a client may find in an urban area, VNH team members are frequently caring for people they know, making their work that much more meaningful.
Dr. Beliveau believes that the hospital-at-home movement (providing more highly skilled care in the comfort of home) and telehealth will continue to shape the future of the home care industry. Already, these approaches are influencing the industry, allowing more patients greater access to care in the home. Through telehealth, a client can be triaged over the phone, chronic health conditions can be monitored and much more. Because of ever-increasing technology and client demand, the role of telehealth will continue to evolve and expand in the coming years.
When considering what makes home-based care unique, Dr. Beliveau shares that having the opportunity to see and understand the way people live brings meaningful insight that helps care providers better understand their clients’ unique needs. She emphasizes the importance of consumer advocacy, speaking out about the type of care individuals wish to receive in a home-based setting. When consumers share what is important and what they need, it drives change in the ways care can be delivered.
After listening to this episode, you’ll come away with a greater understanding of how home care services are particularly important in rural areas, providing families greater access to care while honoring their desire to remain at home.
Listen to today’s episode here, on Apple Podcasts, Google, or YouTube.
To learn more about the ways in which home care services are meeting a wide variety of needs and expanding services to people in rural communities, listen to the Help Choose Home interview with Dr. Michael Fratkin, CEO and founder of ResolutionCare. Dr. Fratkin and his team specialize in providing palliative care for people in the comfort and familiarity of home, using a network of experts who share a commitment to person-centered home healthcare.
If this episode has been helpful, be sure to leave a five-star review and share the podcast with your friends to help us in the national effort to educate about home healthcare options! You can connect with Merrily Orsini on Twitter: @MerrilyO.
Sponsors
The Help Choose Home podcast series is a collaborative effort by Axxess, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), and corecubed to educate the public about the many benefits of the in-home care industry, which includes non-medical home care, private duty nursing care, medical home health, hospice and other in-home health and wellness services.
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