Inside Look: A Nurse’s View

Communities of Care is proud to be the company nurses prefer to work with! We had a chance to chat with LPN Valerie about her experience with COC.

The word Valerie used most to describe working with us is “rewarding.” Valerie chose home care a year ago after 18 years as a clinic nurse. Valerie left her clinical position due to stress and found a much warmer welcome in the home care space. She appreciates the communication between the client, the family, and other caregivers. She highlighted COC’s focus on individualized care; that individualized care is one of the key reasons nurses choose home care jobs. We believe that customized care plans make the cares easier for the nurses and keep the clients healthier!

Valerie also mentioned how important our client-nurse matching method was to her. We allow our nurses and clients to meet before assigning them to a case, ensuring that nurses are compatible with their clients. This method reduces the stress of walking into an unknown case, and because our nurses choose their clients, they tend to stay with a case for much longer than nurses who are blindly assigned to a case.

Valerie also enjoys the variety in a home care setting. Many of the daily tasks are scheduled, predictable, and repeated, such as daily cares and medications. On the other hand, nurses also have to be ready for unexpected events like new medications, outings in the community with the client, and active households. It’s the best of both worlds.

Nurses are an integral part of client care, with enormous responsibility. “We are their legs, arms, ears” as most home care clients have some limited mobility. Home care clients now use a wide variety of technology to assist them such as specialized computers, custom chairs and beds, and ventilators. Nurses help manage all of these technologies.

Communities of Care provides all home care nurses extensive communication from the main office. We communicate directly with the nurses daily to discuss schedules, clinical issues, and professional boundaries. We have an open door policy and encourage nurses to reach out to the entire home care team and office team for support. This support structure ensures that although nurses are working in a home setting, they feel supported by a team.

What is Home Care?

February 23, 2021

Joan Vaughn

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Written by Joan Vaughn

I’m Joan, and I know home care from the inside out. I’ve navigated my daughter through 24/7 home care nursing and managed her PCA’s. I’ve helped my parents move into (and out of) assisted living, Medicare episodes, skilled nurse visits, home health aids, and PCAs. Sandwiched in all of that, I’ve helped coordinate home care equipment and supplies, physical therapists, occupational therapists, county workers, and medications (oh, the medications). I know emergency departments, children’s hospitals, cancer wards, cardiac floors, and specialty units. I can recite health insurance policies (and call their bluff). I know a lot of other things in life too, like Shakespeare, where to sit to see a great sunset over a lake, how to keep myself healthy, how to read a profit/loss statement and state statutes, when to use a comma, and that gratitude is one of the keys to success. So I’m going to have this blog and write about home care from time to time. I’ll include topics like current legislation, professional boundaries in a tricky environment, and being a caregiver. I’ll also post some guest blogs from clients and nurses. Join me in the conversation.

View all posts by: Joan Vaughn

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