Regional Digest
Regional Digest
• The Eddy Visiting Nurse Association’s (Albany, NY) home care division, which received accreditation from the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO; Chicago) in December 1995, will be issued a re-accreditation survey this week. The purpose of the survey is to evaluate the agency’s compliance with national JCAHO standards and to determine whether, and the conditions under which, accreditation should be re-awarded.
• United Health Group has completed its affiliation with the home care and hospice services of Valley VNA Health Systems of Neenah (Neenah, WI), reported The Post-Crescent of Appleton, WI. United Health Home Care now includes United Health Visiting Nurses, Valley VNA Homecare and Hospice; and Morton Medical. Valley VNA Homecare and Hospice and United Home Health Care are in the process of integrating services and consolidating operations. The new operating unit will be known as United Health Visiting Nurses, pending a corporate name change to be announced later this spring. Both United Health Visiting Nurses and Morton Medical’s operations will also be moving into renovated facilities at the current Valley VNA facilities later this year. United Health Visiting Nurses will also open new offices at Appleton Medical Center.
• The Canadian Association for Community Care (Ottawa, Ontario) last week released the final report of the National Respite Care Project. The report demonstrates the need to recognize caregivers who tend to be unpaid family or friends as an integral part of Canada’s healthcare system. The National Respite Care Project calls on health ministers across the country to bear the financial cost of providing respite programming for caregivers who actually provide the majority of long term care in Canada. In fact, the final report confirms that institutionalization, or the periodic provision of home-based care, is relatively rare. According to the report, most seniors who require help receive it from informal networks, and the respite needs of their caregivers are significant. The report concludes that Health Canada must encompass flexibility and diversity into their policies and guidelines to better serve and address the issues that affect all of its caregivers. The research team found that overall, the healthcare system does a poor job of meeting the needs of caregivers. The federal government must provide support for the millions of Canadians who care for their family members and friends, which these caregivers often do "at risk to their own well-being," according to the report.
Subscribe Now for Access
You have reached your article limit for the month. We hope you found our articles both enjoyable and insightful. For information on new subscriptions, product trials, alternative billing arrangements or group and site discounts please call 800-688-2421. We look forward to having you as a long-term member of the Relias Media community.