It’s been two months since Total Home Care and Hospice opened its Emporia branch with a skeleton staff. Now there’s a little more meat on the bones.
The new arrival now has three licensed practical nurses, one registered nurse and a home health aide. There’s still some hiring to do; the company would like to get a physical therapist from the area, along with an occupational and a speech therapist. Nonetheless, things are off to a good start.
“We’re so excited!” said Melissa Morales, the company’s administrator. “I think once people give us a chance, they’ll be pleasantly pleased.”
Don’t confuse this with Home Health or Hand in Hand Hospice by the way. Those are associated with Newman Hospital. Total Home Care is a private company that started in Wichita and has been slowly reaching eastward to Augusta, El Dorado and now Emporia.
Morales emphasized that Total Home Care was not trying to edge out the other services.
“We don’t want to be adversarial in any way,” she said. “We just want to help the community, grow with the community and provide services to the folks that live there. ... But it’s a very tight-knit community and I think we’re going to have to prove ourselves.”
Total Home’s services include home-safety evaluations; PT/INR “fingerprick” blood tests for knee and hip surgery patients; and anodyne therapy, where infrared light is used to improve blood circulation.
Physical therapy is by far the most common service offered and the company has seven physical therapists who can reach Emporia in 30 to 45 minutes.
“We would love to hire from the Emporia area,” Morales said. “People like to have people from their area taking care of them.”
Total Home also offers hospice services, helping people with terminal illnesses and their families prepare for death. Total Home’s approach tends to be very goal-oriented, Morales said, making sure that everything a person needs to do before dying is taken care of.
Beyond that, though, each hospice case is different. If a patient wants their physician involved, he or she can be. If an IV infusion is occasionally needed to help a patient, it will be.
“There’s nothing cut-and-dried, black-and-white about hospice,” she said. “It’s very patient-oriented.”
Morales said the company would offer services within a 40-mile radius of Emporia until it grows a little more.
“The potential to grow into Topeka and the surrounding area is very attractive,” she said.