Sonoma West Medical Center has been awarded a $3,750,000 federal grant for developing partnerships to keep people healthy after they’ve left the Sebastopol hospital.
The funds, to be used over a five-year period, will be used to create processes and services that essentially track and support patient care, beginning with the emergency room or inpatient setting and continuing all the way to the home. The hospital’s potential partners include West County Community Health Centers, home health agencies and county in-home support services.
“As one of our physicians likes to say, one of the fragile times for a patient in the hospital is their discharge,” said Alanna Brogan, executive director of the Palm Drive Health Care District, a taxpayer-funded agency that provides financial support and some oversight of the hospital.
Hospital officials said some initiatives may include sending nurses to housebound patients or offering psychological evaluation and appropriate placement to patients with mental illness who pass through the emergency department or are admitted for a medical reason. The grant will also zero in on the post-hospital needs of the homeless and so-called “frequent flyers” — patients with chronic health conditions and often homeless.
[For more of this story, written by Martin Espinoza, go to http://www.pressdemocrat.com/n...medical-center-snags]
Comments (0)