Deaconess HomeCare, which was previously South Mississippi Home Care, has been in Columbia for 15 years and offers home-health services with two physical therapists, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist assistant, three registered nurses and a licensed practical nurse at its disposal.
Clinical Director Anne Powell, RN, has been in her current role for nearly a year after spending five months as a team leader and has worked in home health care previously and as an ER nurse. Deaconess is strictly an outpatient health care business and needs a doctor’s order to admit a patient with its focus on physical and occupational therapy and social workers.
“We do a lot of medication management and can teach patients about their conditions. We do it in 60-day episodes, and from that point we reevaluate and see if they still need continuing education,” Powell said. “But we don’t have to stay for 60 days. Home health is kind of going more toward a short-term basis. For example, we may go three times one week, two times the next week and once the following week, and if we feel like we have told them what they need to teach them, we can get out. Of course, if they have wounds or more serious needs that takes more time, then we stay with them more.”
Powell said Deaconess’ staff is well-respected and is the heartbeat of keeping its patients at the vanguard.
“The services the patients need are put at the forefront, and our staff is very cautious of that,” Powell said.
Deaconess has been rapidly expanding recently and wants to increase the overall welfare of its patients on a day-to-day basis without full-time assistance, as well as adding speech therapy in the near future.
“Our office is expanding to better meet the needs of the community. We want our patients to remain in the home as independent as possible with our services serving as the liaison between the physicians and facilities,” Patient Care Manager Melanie Heurtin said.
Dr. Jeremy Bennett, a physical therapist with 12 years of experience who has been with Deaconess since February, said he goes into patients’ homes and works with them on being able to perform simple duties many take care for granted: going to the bathroom and getting in and out of bed and cars. The focus is to help patients rebuild core muscles needed to perform such tasks while lowering the risk of injury.
Bennett said his career focus was always geared toward the medical field, and his wife suggested he look into physical therapy as a growing profession with stability.
Dry needling, also known as intramuscular manual therapy, has only begun to take off Mississippi in recent years and requires hands-on training to earn special certifications in order to perform, and Bennett was certified in the past year. The focus is derived upon acupuncture needles, but it isn’t the type of acupuncture most think of.
“It’s needling soft tissue that is dysfunctional. It could be inflamed or tight tissues or adhesions, and you needle that to loosen the tight tissue. It increases blood flow and helps the body’s natural healing process,” Bennett said. “It also helps with pain. We use it a lot with back pain, neck pain, tendinitis, bursitis and trigger points, which are these little tight knots you have within the muscle. You needle those to loosen that all up.”
It took so long to become a more regular practice in Mississippi is because physical therapists are now required to receive a doctorate degree, which in turn allows therapists to learn and perfect new methods.
“It’s definitely a good adjunct. We still continue with our traditional treatments, but it’s just another tool within the box you can use to get a little bit quicker and more effective results,” Bennett said. “In the past it was more hands-on deep tissue massage, which can be painful, but the needling is a way of getting in there and working on those tissues that doesn’t hurt near as bad. I’ve seen some really good results with it.”
Each patient receives three items when he or she is discharged: a digital blood pressure cuff, a monthly medicine planner and a talking scale.
Deaconess HomeCare is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. but has staff on call 24/7 and can be reached at (601) 736-8431.
Pictured Above: Deaconess HomeCare employees include, front row, from left, Nicole Cameron, Lashauna Fortenberry, Kristie Crump, Damie Livingston, Taylor McDaniel, Melanie Huertin, Shawner Tyson and Derek Rowley; back row, Latera Hayes, Dana Martin, Matt Mattox, R.L. Conerly, Anne Powell, Da’Trell Dillon and Jeremy Bennett. Deaconess offers in-home care to patients in need of physical and occupational therapy. “ We want our patients to remain in the home as independent as possible with our services serving as the liaison between the physicians and facilities,” Heurtin, the patient care manager, said. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
