Home is our safe place, where we connect with the people we love most.
There’s nothing like being at home – surrounded by your own things, sleeping in your own bed, snuggled down in your own favorite chair with your four-legged friend, enjoying the comforts of home – the way you like it, surrounded by the people and the things that make you happy.
Enter Forrest General Hospital Home Care. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the service opened its doors and welcomed its first patients in 1985 when Forrest General purchased a privately-owned home health care agency, which ultimately settled in its newly-constructed home on South 27th Avenue in Hattiesburg. The facility, which served 16 counties at that time, housed home health nurses, nursing assistants, therapists, social workers, the business office, and other supporting staff. There were also Home Care offices in Columbia, Laurel, Lumberton, New Augusta, Prentiss, and Tylertown.
It was during this time that many procedures that had once only been performed in a hospital environment, such as IV therapy and chemotherapy, were being performed in the home setting. Other such one-on-one customized personal care and post-hospitalization services offered in the home setting included: nursing care, wound/ostomy nursing services, diabetic educator visits, infusion services, wound care, pediatric services, hospice, pharmacy, personal care and medical social services, physical, occupational, and speech therapy, nutritional and intravenous therapy, registered dietician visits, psychiatric/mental health services, pediatric services, supplies, and equipment arrangements. These programs worked to meet both the patients’ and family’s physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs with the assistance of skilled nursing care.
In 2002, the need for Home Care Services began to increase, and the intermittent health care required when a loved one became ill or injured was made easier through Forrest General’s Home Care, which provided flexibility to families. By providing dependable, specially-trained nurses, therapists, nursing assistants, and others to give family members some relief, Home Care services allowed a patient to enjoy the familiarity and comfort of their home rather than having to stay in a hospital or be transferred to an assisted living facility.
This increase was the result of the overall efforts of employees and caregivers. Home visits were up by almost 7,000 during 2001.
Pat Snead, who served as Home Care director, noted at that time, “The purpose of increasing Home Care service was to help families become more independent. Quality of life is
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