Home Health Care

Week in Review (for posterity):

This week I treated 23 patients, 2 of them twice. My youngest patient just turned 2 years old, and my oldest patient is 94.

I have driven 550 miles to and from patient's houses this week.

I drove 119 miles the day that the office was closed due to snow and ice.

I have worked 43 hours.

My least favorite session was with a fellow who had a stroke and whose progress has been minimal. He's middle aged with no previous medical problems. His prognosis is poor for recovery. He makes me sad.

My favorite session of the week was completed in Spanish. I speak very basic Spanish and treat a few young Spanish speaking children for language delays. Every few months the Children's services sends a translator and a caseworker to one of those sessions and this week was one of those times. I got to praise the mother who's been so amazing during sessions and whose child has responded so well to therapy (when we started at the end of November he was saying 3 words, and those words were infrequent; he now is consistently using approximately 50-75 words and is working on 2 word phrases-- that's a good 9 month development in 3 months!) I have been thanking her in my simple Spanish, but it was such a joy to sing her praises to the caseworker and to her through the translator. As a mentor used to exclaim with such cases--"oh THERAPY WORKS!!!!"

My rep called and we've sent my resume to several places needing contract Speech Therapy assistance.

Note to self: The Home Health beat is tough. I'm not cut out for it long term. I'm too much of a perfectionist and I get frustrated when therapy is not making a significant and immediate difference in a person's life.