HealthCare at Home makes at-home medical care in India a reality

Bring Home Care!

Life is unpredictable! What lies in store for the next moment can’t be guessed, agrees Mr Rakesh. Life came crashing down for him when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer two months ago.

A retired bureaucrat, Mr Rakesh’s only son lives in the US. On getting to know about his mother’s ailment, he came to India, only to return in a week due to urgent work assignment. It became exceedingly difficult for Mr Rakesh to manage the situation all by himself.

The doctors decided on treatment course that included modified radical mastectomy, adjuvant chemotherapy and post-operative care. His wife underwent surgery for right breast a month ago and now has to undergo chemotherapy sessions regularly at the hospital. The pain and trauma his wife goes through is unbearable and rips him apart. All this has taken a toll on his health too, given he is 76 himself. Taking his wife to hospital for chemotherapy, her care at home, and providing the emotional support she needs consume all his energy and leave him terribly exhausted. It is a herculean task for him to perform.

Mr Rakesh wishes if there was a way that could save his wife from the torture of travelling for chemotherapy sessions, and longs to have somebody who could lend her emotional healing and counseling she needs to cope up with the suffering better. Availability of such professional homecare isn’t possible, thinks he. But his doctor, the one handling his wife’s case, took him by surprise by telling that such a facility was being provided by HealthCare at Home (HCAH) which extends cohesive treatment and care in the comfortable confines of one’s home only.

Mr Rakesh subscribed to the services of HCAH and heaved a big sigh of relief. The HCAH nurse is adept at handling his wife’s case and keeps her doctor updated about her condition through the HCAH medical team. His wife now doesn’t need to visit hospital for chemotherapy sessions as it now done at home only. To top all, she has become stronger mentally to deal with her situation, thanks to the emotional boost being provided to her by the HCAH nurse.

Availability of such kind of facility could be a blessing in disguise for many whose near and dear ones have been in the intensive care unit (ICU) for weeks or in some cases for months; for those who want to end their hospital saga post major surgeries and wish to be home around their family members; for those who want to ensure better care for elderly at home; and for those who want to get rid of the mounting hospital bills and on the lookout for a cost-effective way of treatment.

There are several reasons for which people prefer home care to hospital care. One of the many is peace of mind. Just the feeling of being home is comforting and expedites the patients’ recovery, as being around the family and friends boost their morale after a critical illness or a major surgery.

Home care also saves both the patients and their family members from troublesome travelling to hospitals for regular check-ups or any treatment sessions. It ensures constant medical intervention and supervision to the patient without any interruption as their doctors concerned are always in the loop.

The personalized care offered through homecare addresses the unique needs of every patient. Longer stay at hospitals lead to huge medical bills, thereby putting enormous pressure on family members. Compared to hospital stay, home care is cost effective as it cuts the indirect expenditures.

When such a facility is not available, the work-life balance of the family members goes for a toss. But with facility like HCAH family members can resume a normal schedule, leaving their dear ones in trusted hands.

The backbone of HealthCare at Home is its highly qualified and registered healthcare professionals. The company hires employees after conducting through background checks. A lot of stress is put on the nurses’ training. After joining HCAH, all the nurses undergo a six-week training course. The staffs are made to learn clinical skills such as infection control and life support. Post training, a clinical competency check is conducted to check if procedures are performed in accordance with the best practice guidelines or not.

Apart from all this, IT training is imparted to the nurses, who are given a tablet device, so that the data captured by them could be sent to the doctors handling the respective cases in real time after the clinical evaluation by the HCAH team.

The personalized approach and IT-enabled operations encourage the doctor and patients or their family members to have greater control over the disease and its treatment.

Doctors too have found the HCAH services worthy of note and recommends it to their patients. “The concept of healthcare at home was given to me. I was told that this is something different from what was being offered in India so far. There was no cohesive kind of medical treatment being offered at home which could lead to a complete change in the scenario. So, when I referred my first patient and this was a GI surgical patient then I found the care which was provided to the patient in the post operative period at home, it was fantastic. I have referred patients to them and I am extremely happy with the kind of services that are being provided by HCAH,” says Dr Randeep Wadhawan, Director Minimal Access Surgery, Fortis Healthcare.

HealthCare at Home, undoubtedly, is a blessing for cancer patients. Additionally, for those who look forward to ending their stay in a hospital’s ICU as HCAH establishes one at home itself. Others services it caters to are post surgical care, post joint replacement care, home critical care services, post cardiac surgery care, home pulmonary care, care of elderly and home physiotherapy.

HCAH has its presence so far in Delhi, national capital region and Chandigarh. Plans are spread wings pan-India within two years.

There is nothing like home and for patients the feeling to be home gets pronounced. Let them now have the opportunity to be home, ‘sweet home’!