YES WE CAN

Critical Care Systems, a national medical company providing home infusion therapy, makes this header their motto—-Yes we can! These special care providers are there for children as well as adults and they are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Whatever it takes,” says Erin Gigli, general manager.

This Fort Wayne branch, located just off of Airport Expressway at 3700 VanGuard Drive, has an experienced team of registered nurses and pharmacists that manages all aspects of a patient’s needs for infusion therapy in the patient’s home. Recently we were invited to an open house to learn more about Critical Care Systems and infusion therapy.

What is infusion therapy?” The Waynedale News asked.

Waynedale resident and business manager Erin Gigli explained, “The most common therapies we provide at Critical Care Systems are long term intravenous antibiotics which includes therapy for wound, skin and bone infections and nutritional support including total parenteral nutrition for patients who have an inability to eat or have malnutrition.” Gigli went on to explain that infusion therapy involves antibiotic, antifungal and antiviral, nutrition, immunoglobulin, hydration, chemotherapy, hemophilia and pain management to name a few.

There are 7 office staff with 15 per diem pharmacists and nurses, a warehouse manager, administrative assistant and a very valuable part of the team, Melissa Neumann, their reimbursement manager. Melissa verifies a patient’s benefits, obtains authorizations from the primary physician and assists in getting the patient their maximum coverage from all insurances.

Because chronic conditions such as hemophilia and related bleeding disorders generate complex insurance issues, these specialists communicate directly with your insurance company on your behalf handling the details and acting as the liaison between physician, pharmacy, payors, agencies and other providers.

“Our team of health care providers can help to reduce the costs of a patient’s medical needs by getting them home from the hospital earlier.” “Home administration is the most cost effective approach for today and most likely the future especially with the new Medicare Plan D coming into play in January 2006,” states Erin.

The nurses they work with have met their stringent certification standards and many of the agencies’ appropriate accreditation and/or Medicare certification. Critical Care Systems also provides round-the-clock on-call nurses to answer any questions that may arise during home health care visits.

Critical Care Systems has recently merged with a company chosen by Forbes to be one of the best 200 small companies in the nation, called Curative Health Services. The unique clinical and cost efficacy has made them very appealing to hospitals, patients and payors. As Critical Care Systems continues to develop multiple continuum services, their programs will become even more attractive to consumers and health care providers.

The Waynedale News would like to take this opportunity to salute these dedicated workers for the job they do. Whether it’s a routine daily visit, or a middle-of-the-night visit, these workers are there to provide professional and compassionate care.

Whenever we talked with individuals who have experienced home health or hospice care, they all tell us the same thing — the workers become a part of the patient’s family. And that’s how health care should be.

So, thank you to all home and hospice health workers. The job you do — be it nurses aide or registered nurse — you make a difference in all of our lives. Keep up the good work and keep up the care.