For families
Coming home from the hospital
Most of our patients start after a hospital stay, a surgery, a fall, or a stretch of unstable illness. If a case manager says you need home health, you can choose the agency. Ask them to send the referral to New Horizon, or call us and we will help gather the order.
Ask before you leave
- What skilled services are ordered for home (nursing, therapy, aide), in writing
- Who is sending the home health referral, and that you can choose the agency
- A current medication list, including what changed in the hospital
- Which symptoms mean call the doctor, and which mean call 911
- The follow-up appointment, and how you will get there
- Whether it is safe to be home alone, and for how long
The first days at home
- Fill new prescriptions the same day. Set aside anything that was stopped.
- Walk the real path: bed to bathroom, shower, kitchen. Add a nightlight or shower chair if the path is unsafe.
- Keep one sheet by the phone: medication times, doctor numbers, and family contacts.
- Call for new confusion, shortness of breath, a fall, or refusing food or water.
What we can start quickly
After a complete referral, a nurse typically completes the start-of-care visit within 24 to 48 hours.
A Medicare home health aide is not a private caregiver
Under Medicare, a home health aide is part of a skilled plan. Typical help is walking, bathing or grooming, changing bed linens, and feeding, while nursing or therapy is also ordered. Visits are part-time, not around the clock.
Official coverage: Medicare.gov home health services.