VitalCare Home Health Care

VitalCare Home Health Services
Whether you are transitioning home from the hospital or managing an acute or chronic illness at home, VitalCare will bring you the clinical care and support that promotes wellness and independent living.

For more than a quarter-century, VitalCare has cared for the residents of Northern Michigan and helped them avoid unnecessary hospitalizations.

VitalCare is accredited by the Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP). Our patient outcomes and customer satisfaction scores are consistently high. In recent years, VitalCare has ranked in the Top 25% of home healthcare organizations nationwide, based on Medicare reports. A separate, independent study ranked VitalCare’s services at the 95th percentile among Northern Michigan providers.

Our staff will help identify the program that best meets your needs. If you are self-referring, they will contact your physician for any necessary nursing orders. They will interact with your insurance company to let you know if services will be covered.

Call our
Referral Center
at 1-800-342-7711

Visiting Nurses
Visiting nurses may be helpful when you are returning home from a hospital stay. Ask your physician to order these services for you, or ask the nurse or social worker who is planning your discharge to make a referral to home care. Home health care is also helpful when you have health problems that begin to escalate or become more serious but do not require hospitalization. Ask your physician to make a referral to home health care.

Visiting nurses can help you remain independent and manage your health at home by providing any of the following services:

an assessment of your health – how you are doing on the day they visit. This is helpful for early recognition of subtle changes in your condition. The nurse will tell you what changes are normal, what changes bear monitoring, and what changes may require physician or emergency room intervention.
education about your condition and how you can best deal with it at home
wound care when you have had surgery
infusion nursing for IV antibiotics, hydration, nutrition or chemotherapy
ostomy care, education and support
Pt-INR monitoring for Coumadin management
education about diabetes if you are newly-diagnosed
education about new medications that the doctor has prescribed for you

Visiting nurses do not eliminate the need for you to keep your regularly-scheduled visits with your doctor or other healthcare provider. Your nurse will work closely with your doctor to enhance your healthcare at home.

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Home Health Aides
Home Health Aides can assist with:

Personal care, such as bathing, dressing and grooming
Meal preparation
Light housekeeping and laundry
Special care, such as trachea care, that they have been trained to perform.

Jason Barkley, PT

Physical Therapists
Physical Therapists work with you to improve motor function and instruct you about assistive devices and prosthetic care, if necessary. Physical Therapists are often involved in home healthcare for patients who have undergone joint replacement surgery or suffered a stroke, working with them to improve their strength through an exercise regime. They can also help pulmonary patients improve their stamina through exercise.

Occupational Therapists
Occupational Therapists work with you to enhance functional ability and recommend equipment and environmental adaptations. Occupational Therapists are often involved in the recuperative process for patients who been involved in an accident, or are debilitated due to Multiple Sclerosis or other degenerative disease.

Speech Therapists
Speech Therapists work with you to treat speech, communication and swallowing disorders. Speech Therapists often work with stroke patients who are recuperating in the home setting, and with patients who have had surgeries that affect their ability to speak or swallow.

Medical Social Workers
Medical Social Workers provide short-term therapeutic counseling and make referrals to community agencies that can provide assistance to you. Medical Social Workers understand the broad range of social and financial issues that patients experience, and they are experts in identifying solutions for these issues.