March 11 , 2002

FOR RELEASE: Immediately

Chester River Home Care & Hospice is celebrating five years of successfully meeting the need for home care in Kent and Queen Anne's Counties.

Chester River Home Care & Hospice is celebrating five years of successfully meeting the need for home care in Kent and Queen Anne's Counties.
The agency was created in February 1997 through a joint venture between Kent & Queen Anne's Hospital and a large regional home care agency in Baltimore. Previously home care was offered by the Kent County Health Department, which decided in 1996 to privatize the service, as was typical among health departments at that time. The creation of the home care agency was the beginning of the Chester River Health System and in 1999 the System assumed full ownership of the agency.

Home care allows clients to receive skilled medical care, guided by a care plan designed by a physician, in the comfort of their homes. Because it is less expensive than care in an acute or long-term care facility, it is one of the fastest growing segments of health care. Home care visits may be needed before or after hospitalization or after inpatient rehabilitation. They may even take the place of a stay in the hospital or a skilled nursing facility. Chester River Home Care & Hospice offers skilled nursing, physical, speech, occupational and intravenous therapies, medical social work and home care aide services.

The agency works cooperatively with the Kent Hospice Foundation to provide care to Kent County clients, their families and friends during and after the final stages of life. Chester River Home Care & Hospice provides clinical services while the Foundation provides volunteer services and group and individual grief counseling.

Chester River Home Care & Hospice has 36 employees, nine of whom were recognized for five years of service at a celebration on February 21. Janet Melson, Executive Director of Chester River Home Care & Hospice and William R. Kirk, Jr., president & CEO of the Chester River Health System, presented five-year service awards to René Baker, RN; Joyce Davis, MSW; Melissa Dierker, RN; Kim Hicks, CNA; Sharon McClinton, CNA; Tina Moaney; CNA; Susan Newnam, LPN; Mary Lynn Price, RN; and Moira Schreiber, PT.

The agency has served approximately 3,500 clients over its five-year history.
It has expanded its client base by introducing two services for the community; neither requires a physician's supervision and both are intended to help individuals remain independent. The Personal Care Service program provides trained staff to assist clients with light housekeeping, meal preparation and other daily activities. The agency's personal emergency response service, Lifeline, helps alleviate the worry of medical emergencies for those living alone. A subscriber can send a signal to a monitoring center with one push of a button and usually within 60 seconds of receiving the signal, the monitoring center dispatches help.

The agency is located in the Roundtop Professional Building on Church Hill Road.

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