Nurse Makes Housecalls from her RV!
Wed Jun 30, 2010
Author: Justin Zamudio Scripps
Source: Texas Newspapers
The path Kaye Kendall has taken has enabled her to combine the three best things in her life: her husband, providing care for others and the open road.
An avid traveler, the Dallas-area nurse practitioner gets in some serious family time as she and her retired husband cruise Texas highways in their recreational vehicle as she makes house calls.
Kendall is one of 35 nurse practitioners in Texas who conduct in-home medical checkups for Care Improvement Plus, a company focused on providing care for underserved or chronically ill Medicare patients.
Of all those nurse practitioners, Kendall is the only one who has devoted her life to the journey part of the job. The other health professionals stay in their immediate area, while Kendall goes wherever her license allows her — anywhere within the 286,601 square miles of Texas.
In late May, Kendall was in the San Angelo area, where she expected to make about 100 house calls in a two-week period. She said she has seen about 450 patients this year.
“This has been the first town that I’ve seen the patients for the second time,” Kendall said. “I’ve been doing this for a year now. Just yesterday I had five patients I saw last August. It is really fun to visit with them and see how their health is progressing.”
The objective of the HouseCalls program is preventive care. According to Care Improvement Plus, patients with multiple chronic conditions account for about 75 percent of Medicare spending.
The company reaches out to people who have a hard time getting to a physician regularly, and to clear up questions about their health or medications.
“Most of these people we serve are medically homeless or they lack the coordination, more like a quarterback, to streamline their health care needs,” said Lee Spruiell, senior vice president of field operations for Care Improvement Plus.
Besides checking on the well-being of the patient, the doctors and caregivers — with permission from the patient — also get a briefing as a result of the HouseCalls visit, Spruiell said.
