VNA NAMES PRIVATE DUTY DIRECTOR

VNA of Southeast Missouri has named Jaynee Browning, RN, their new Private Duty Director. She has served as the Patient Care Coordinator of the Sikeston Branch office for the past two years and now has accepted responsibility for all of southeast Missouri's private duty nursing. She coordinates the needs of patients requiring services for four to 24 hours a day and the staff who will serve them.

"I intend to make the best private duty program in Southeast Missouri even better," Browning commented on her plans for the future.

"I know there are parents struggling at home alone to care for their handicapped or ill children, not knowing VNA is here to help them," she said. "I want them to know that nurses and parents can work together as a team so the child receives the care they need even when the parents are away at work or caring for their other children."

It's not as easy to leave a handicapped or chronically ill child because a typical babysitter is not capable of responding to all of their medical needs. Oftentimes, these parents end up completely confined to their homes, unable to work or provide for their needs or even participate in their other children's activities.

Kim Foulk of Jackson knows. She has used private duty services for her eight-year-old son, Keith, since he was six months old. Keith's illness prevents him from walking. He has a condition that causes a sleep disturbance, so a nurse is in his home for him at night. His health problems do not deter him from the interests so common to his age. He enjoys playing chess and putting together models. He is still talking about his week-long camping trip to the Ozarks this past summer. The trip was possible only because his nurse went with him. He is a happy young man with many interests and the desire to participate in everything that comes his way.

Activity restraints may be placed on any caregiver, despite the age of the ill or handicapped family member. A son or daughter may assume responsibility for a parent or sibling who has suffered a debilitating illness. They are unable to go to the store or even get a haircut without a relief person. VNA Private Duty provides that relief with trained staff capable of responding to both the health care needs and the routine day-to-day needs.

VNA recently separated the private duty and in-home services into two programs. Both help individuals cope with health-related problems and the changes in lifestyle these problems cause. Less than a year ago, VNA combined the two programs in an effort to coordinate staffing more effectively and reduce costs. Both programs are staffed primarily by nurses and aides working in the private home for a pre-determined number of hours, so an effort was made to coordinate the services under one director. It took less than a year to see the needs of the two groups were better served by two separate directors focusing all of their energies on the needs of one type of client.

The primary differences between the two services is in the level of expertise required from the caregivers and the number of hours of service. The "in-home" program, VNA Community Services, primarily provides homemakers and personal care aides through the Division of Aging to assist the elderly and handicapped with routine household and personal hygiene tasks. The program also provides Advanced Personal Care (APC), aides who are trained in tasks specific to a chronically ill or handicapped individual. Nurses also serve these clients under the Division of Aging's "RN Authorized Visits" by pre-filling insulin syringes and medication reminder trays, assessing skin breakdown in those prone to the problem, trimming toenails for those with circulatory problems and other similar functions for the chronically ill.

The VNA Private Duty program provides nurses and aides to care for the sick of all ages up to 24 hours a day. Those tapping into the services of a private duty nurse or aide require constant help. They cannot be left alone even briefly. Family members learn to provide the necessary care but cannot be expected to function non-stop effectively with no time off. Many times the private duty staff are used primarily for the benefit of the family member who has assumed responsibility for the care of a loved one. It may be an infant or child handicapped by birth defects, a spouse suffering the long-term effects from an accident, or an elderly parent who requires medical treatment at regular intervals and who decides not to enter a nursing home to receive that care.

In an effort to give all VNA Private Duty patients the complete care they require and have a right to expect, VNA again offers the undivided attention of a special nurse for those special people.