Rewards Do Not Always Mean Revenue

A few days ago, our Director of Client Services, Tonja, received a call from a nurse on a case management team who was at a loss as to how to help a client. The gentleman in question lives in a rural area, and is at a rehabilitation facility quite some distance away, recovering from surgery.

The nurse reported that the man was becoming increasingly anxious, thinking of his mail not being picked up and wanting to manage his household business while in the facility.  Support For Home had helped quite a few patients from the rehab facility by providing home care after the patients were discharged.  The nurse did not know what we could do, but she -- and the patient -- needed help.

This was not about home care, so whatever we did was not going to generate an invoice.  There was not going to be any revenue.  To us, that did not matter. 

The Social Worker inside our Director of Client Services took over, and she made a number of phone calls and reached the local senior center, whose representative stated that with written permission, their volunteers who deliver homebound meals in that area could pick up his mail.  The senior center even offered to priority mail his correspondence for free! 

Tonja phoned back the nurse from the case management team, and after providing her with the information she needed to assist her client, she stated, “I always call Support For Home when I don’t know what to do – you always help!”  We just got our reward -- smiles in the office for the rest of the day!

Working together to assist older adults, no matter what their issue: that’s what this industry should always be about, whether that is a nurse who is smart enough to know that not every issue involved in recovery is medical and caring enough to do something about it, or a home care agency that knows not every reward has a $ in front of it or a senior center dedicated to their mission.  We love it!  Nobody told the patient to just get over it or not worry about it.  We all worked together to help, treating the senior with dignity and respect.