SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (Dakota News Now) – Access to health care at home can make a big difference when recovering from a major illness or after a hospitalization or surgery. Home health care is one option to meet these ongoing needs. In this Avera Medical Minute, we hear from one patient who felt much stronger after using home health care.
For Monte Solma, practicing physical therapy is becoming easier each day.
Morgan Muller stops by weekly to make sure things are going well. She is a physical therapist at Avera@Home, which provides home health care to patients like Monte.
“Home health care has a lot of opportunities for people to stay in their homes,” said MTC physical therapist Morgan Mueller, DPT. “We do nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and we have a great team in the office.”
Monte started using the service earlier this year to regain his strength while battling cancer.
“I was on chemotherapy, and I had three rounds of chemotherapy, and I had a setback after each round,” said Monte Solma, an Avera patient. “I had a home health nurse, physical therapist, and occupational therapist come to my home and tell me what I needed to do and work on and how I could improve.”
Morgan visits her home once or twice a week for physical therapy sessions. So what does a typical schedule look like for Monte?
“I get up, we sit down, it's like a regrouping from the last visit, how's the pain, was it hard during the session, what do I need to do today to get better?'' “How are you feeling?'' Goals, have there been any changes, are there any new plans you need to work on, do you have any questions or concerns?'' Muller said. Ta.
We then move on to various exercises aimed at strengthening Monte.
“We're working on improving his balance and overall functional mobility, so we practice getting in and out of the chair multiple times to make sure he's using the correct body mechanics. , he does exercises in the sink to strengthen his core as well as his legs,' so we can get him back to the independent life he used to have,'' Muller said.
“On a nice day, I go for a walk. The first few times I go, I don't get to go around the block. We live on a bigger block. I walk to the corner and back and take a little break. , I sometimes do leg exercises,'' Solma said.
Monte experienced some setbacks during his cancer treatment, but he remained motivated.
“I improved a lot. As long as I was doing the exercises she set, I could see the confidence I had in myself improving,” Solma said.
“Young people like Monte were working and completely independent before all this happened. This patient population is often overlooked and unaware of the services we can provide at home. I think so,” Muller said. “Our goal in home health care is to meet patients where they are, and to all work for the common good so that patients can remain in their homes and function as independently as possible.”
Monte said one of his next big goals is to get back on the golf course. To learn more about home health care options, visit avera.org/medicalnuts.
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