Six myths about home health care
Family Health
Home healthcare professionals are not babysitters. They also are not strangers wandering your home.
Home healthcare workers can be your biggest advocates on your road to recovery. They also serve as friends to home health patients and caregivers.
“The whole point of home healthcare is we want you to live your life with quality with your new diagnosis or condition,” says Allyson Newberry, registered nurse administrator for the Hinesville Division of St. Joseph’s/Candler Home Health. “Even though it can be scary, and we understand there could be a lot of things you are facing, we want to be there to help.” 
Home healthcare is a growing industry, especially as baby boomers age. Still, there are a lot of uncertainties patients and families have surrounding home healthcare.
Related Article: How do you know if you or a loved one qualifies for home healthcare?
St. Joseph’s/Candler Home Health takes a total-patient approach to treatment, meaning we develop specialized plans of care that are the most appropriate for each patient’s individual needs and level of functioning, Newberry explains. The goal of these individual plans is to reduce recovery time, optimize independence and prevent unnecessary hospitalizations.
Currently, there are several hundred patients in 14 counties across southeast Georgia that receive St. Joseph’s/Candler Home Health services. Basic services covered by the program include skilled nursing (RNs, LPNs and CNAs), medically necessary aides, medical social workers and therapy (physical, occupational and speech). In some parts of the region, dietitians and wound care specialists also are available.
Let’s take a look at some of the common myths surrounding home healthcare:
- Myth: Home healthcare is basically adult “babysitting”
Fact: We know it can be confusing, but our home health aides are considered medical necessary aides, meaning you have a medical need that requires assistance with activities of daily living. Our aides help with bathing, getting dressed, brushing their teeth and other things of that nature. They are not homemaker aides, which stay with you longer and do more of the sitter-type services.
“What we can do is assist patients getting a sitter service,” Newberry says. “We can recommend some names of companies we’ve worked with in the past. We also recommend you call your insurance company and find out if it’s covered and who they work with.” - Myth: Home healthcare is expensive
Fact: Actually, for those 65 and older, Medicare or Medicare Advantage plans pay for all or the majority of the care. For those not on Medicare, St. Joseph’s/Candler accepts the largest list of insurance companies in our service area. Typically, patients on commercial insurance have a co-pay and then insurance pays for a portion of the remaining balance. - Myth: “I don’t need home healthcare because my family is helping”
Fact: Skilled and licensed clinicians can do many things that your family cannot from wound care to physical therapy to catheterization. In addition, home healthcare nurses can help take the burden of care off caregivers while assisting both with educational ways to get better.
“Education is a large part of the care we provide,” Newberry says. “We give them booklets that explain their disease, and what we are going to do to treat it. I consider us nurses who are also focused on education.” - Myth: “I am at risk when I let a stranger into my home”
Fact: St. Joseph’s/Candler Home Health is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid Home Health Provider. In addition, it is the only home health agency in the Savannah area to be accredited by The Joint Commission. The Joint Commission has been acknowledged as the leader in developing the highest standards for quality and safety in delivery of health care and evaluating organizational performance based on these standards.
Our home health program also has a stringent onboarding process, and the majority of the home health co-workers are licensed personnel that cannot risk having accusations or valid complaints that may harm their reputation or cause them to lose their license. Newberry says most patients are happy to see help in their home.
“Our aides get very attached. Our patients get very attached,” Newberry says. “We pride ourselves on the fact that we try to meet the patients where they are and help them in any way we can.” - Myth: Home healthcare is just for sick people
Fact: Home health does help those recently released from the hospital that need some more care. However, it’s more than that. Home healthcare also employs physical and occupational therapists (and in some regions, speech therapists) that can help patients retain mobility following a knee surgery, for example, or learn to comb their hair again following a stroke. Physical and occupational therapists have the tools that can help patients do better at home and stay at home. In addition, home health staff can help identify conditions that may not seem serious now, but will later if untreated. - Myth: Home healthcare is a long, intensive process
Fact: The typical home healthcare visit lasts about 30 minutes, with more serious conditions requiring more time. Aides may spend up to 90 minutes with a patient. The goal is to see every patient once a week, while some may be seen two or three times a week. Most patients receive care between six weeks to about six months, Newberry says. If it’s educational care, those sessions run four to eight weeks, she adds.
“We try to keep everyone at home and out of the hospital or assisted living for as long as we can,” Newberry says. “Home health is short term, but we help you plan for the long-term. Wherever you are with your health, we’re here to help you get back to a baseline, and once we get you to your baseline, we’ll work with social workers or other programs like SOURCE or CCSP if you need long-term care.”
It’s also important to note that on-call home healthcare nurses are available 24 hour a day, seven days a week, but if it’s a true medical emergency, Newberry encourages you to call 911.
If you have questions or would like more information about St. Joseph’s/Candler Home Health, please call 1-800-942-5232 or visit our website.