Home health a 'calling' for Tri-County nurses

By Staff
Jonathan Willis FCT Staff Writer
Since the days of Florence Nightingale, nursing has been one of the world's most noble professions.
Nightingale, a leading reformer of the nursing profession in the late 1880s, brought a great deal of change to nursing and hospital procedures during her life.
Today, nurses provide a service that even Nightingale may not have imagined: Home health care.
Home health care is one of the fastest growing services of the medical profession and one local group of nurses believes that's their calling.
Tri-County is a home health organization that serves all of northwest Alabama, including Franklin, Marion, Winston and Lawrence counties out of the Russellville office.
Home health nurses receive doctor's orders and referrals that allow them to visit patients at their home, providing them with medical care as well as educating them on their medicines.
Not only does Tri-County provide typical medical treatment to their patients, they also provide services that may not be expected of a home health agency.
In fact, Tri-County offers programs for occupational, physical and speech therapy in addition to the standard care that they provide.
Currently, Tri-County serves approximately 150 patients in the coverage area and expect even more in the upcoming cold and flu season.
The nurses set up a goal system that gives the patients something to work toward and it allows the nurses to see the progression that is being made.