Bourne directs Home Health United mission on Home Services

Mar

Bourne directs Home Health United mission

posted by admin in Home Care Services

Maybe you ‘ve just had knee surgery and you need crutches and physical therapy.

Maybe you have an elderly parent who is no longer able to leave her home without assistance and would appreciate having meals brought in.

Or maybe your husband has been diagnosed with diabetes and needs to learn how test his blood sugar and administer insulin.

These are all services provided by Home Health United, 4639 Hammersley Road, a Madison nonprofit organization with a primary goal to help people stay in their homes when they ‘re aging, ill or recovering from an injury or surgery.

Rick Bourne is responsible for making sure all the wheels of this multitasking organization are on track and running smoothly. He is president and chief executive officer of Home Health United, appointed to the job nine months ago after heading a similar operation in Great Falls, Mont., for 17 years.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Bourne, 49, handles a $40 million annual budget. He is in charge of 10 offices and 400 employees (during the winter months, the total swells to 500 as extra workers are hired to give flu shots), in 23 counties, from the Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota borders east to Johnson Creek.

This year, Home Health United is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its predecessor organization in Madison, Visiting Nurse Service, with festivities planned in August at the Blackhawk Country Club.

Initiated by the Attic Angels charitable group in 1908, the Visiting Nurse Service started with $1,000 and a single nurse, Maud Reeder. For a salary of $70 a month, Reeder traveled by foot or by streetcar, bringing medical supplies to local families and teaching them how to care for ill loved ones, what to feed them and how to keep the sick room clean. In her first six months, Reeder made 159 home visits.

In 1999, the Visiting Nurse Service merged with Home Health United, a Baraboo organization that started in 1986 as a cooperative effort of Reedsburg Area Medical Center, St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo and Sauk Prairie Memorial Hospital in Prairie du Sac. St. Mary ’s Hospital in Madison joined the partnership in 1989.

Q: What are the main functions of Home Health United?

A: We are one of the most comprehensive providers of home-care services in the area. There are three divisions:

Home Health United Visiting Nurse Services provides nurses, therapists and social workers to homebound patients throughout the region and hospice services in Sauk, Columbia, Richland and several other counties. HospiceCare handles hospice services in Dane and Rock counties.

Home Health United Extra Care offers nonskilled home services such as bathing, cooking and cleaning; Meals on Wheels; immunizations; and foot care. In 2007, we gave 53,000 flu shots and delivered 83,000 meals. The meals are made by Hoffmann House Catering in Janesville.

Home Care United sells and rents home medical equipment. This is a very big business. Last year, 35,000 patients received some type of equipment, such as wheelchairs, hospital beds, canes and crutches, wound-care supplies and bathroom equipment. You name it, we ‘ll try to provide it for individuals in a home setting so they can remain at home.