March 28, 2024

Visiting Nurse Services Home Care and ExtraCare Services to open in Creston

The organization recently opened an office in Creston slated to be open to the public this fall.

Residents in Union and surrounding counties may soon have more local access to in-home care services, as Visiting Nurse Services (VNS) Home Care and ExtraCare Services recently opened an office in Creston.

These nonprofit services will be available to patients with a number of concerns, including learning to live with an illness, recuperating from an injury and receiving infusion or IV therapy.

VNS Home Care and ExtraCare Services in Creston, now located at 808 Laurel St. Suite B, is in the process of obtaining Community Health Accreditation Partner (CHAP) certification. The process requires 10 patients with certain needs to be seen by staff, and as of last week, seven patients had been seen.

The local director, Tyra Stull, said the tentative plan, pending certification, is for VNS Home Care and ExtraCare Services in Creston to be open to the public by November.

Services

“The umbrella organization for all of these programs is HCI Care Services and Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa,” said Linda Clauson, business development and communication director of HCI-VNS Care Services in West Des Moines. “Under that umbrella, we have three main programs that offer in-home care services to help people who are recuperating from illness or injury, need extra help in the home or are living with a serious or terminal illness. Those programs are VNS Home Care, ExtraCare Services and HCI Hospice Care Services.”

VNS Home Care and ExtraCare Services in Creston will offer a range of in-home health care and support services with the goal of helping people live in their homes as independently as possible.

VNS Home Care offers skilled nursing and rehabilitative services to help people recover from illness or injury or get support for chronic conditions, while ExtraCare Services provides private-duty, in-home support with visits from nurses and aides who offer help with medications, meal preparation, homemaking services and more.

“Home-care services are about getting people back to that level of independence they strive for to maintain a healthy lifestyle,” Clauson said. “If they need physical, occupational or speech therapy services ... or if there is concern for safety issues in the home like falls, visual impairment, that sort of thing, those tend to be the common triggers for patients who might utilize (home) health care.”

Clauson said the services are used by males and females alike, and patients range in age from youth to elderly.

“People tend to think about home health care only being for our aging parents or spouses, but really, it applies to anyone who might be dealing with recovery or recuperation or living with a new disease,” she said. “Our nonprofit services serve vulnerable people at vulnerable times in their lives.”

Creston location

The new office space in Creston was secured in the summer, but before beginning to serve patients full time, the organization is going through the process of CHAP certification. CHAP is an organization through which participating home-care and hospice providers can demonstrate their quality of care and service.

“Not all care providers choose to become CHAP-certified; it’s a rigorous process,” Clauson said. “But, we felt that earning CHAP certification was the right thing to do. And, it will help us further demonstrate our commitment to excellence and the best possible care for area residents and their families.”

VNS Home Care is currently serving its first few patients. As part of the process of demonstrating readiness, the organization will serve 10 patients and then request a final survey from CHAP.

“We don’t get told when (CHAP staff) will come, but we are kind of expecting them in October,” Stull said. “Once they come and do our survey and either say, ‘You’re good to go’ or ‘This needs to be changed,’ then they give us the OK. We’re really hoping by at least November, we’ll be able to take more patients.”

Those in need of help right now might be able to be taken among the first 10 patients. For more information about the different types of home-care services or to speak with a representative about specific needs, call the local office at 641-782-6620.

“If it’s something ExtraCare Services program can address, they can do so immediately. It really just depends on what the specific care need is,” Clauson said.

The organization will accept Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance, Stull said.

The idea for an office in Creston arose from a need for such services in Union and surrounding counties, Clauson said. So, the office will serve Union and the counties that touch Union, making an eight-county coverage area.

“We’ve heard for many years of the need for additional in-home care options and that local residents were looking for providers to be able to address their needs well before needing end-of-life care,” Clauson said. “That was the trigger for us to say, ‘How can we answer this need in the communities we serve, especially rural Iowa?’”

Hiring

Clauson said VNS Home Care and ExtraCare Services in Creston currently has four employees and is still hiring for certain positions: a home-care RN, occupational therapist, physical therapist and social worker.

For more information, call 641-782-6620.