The benefit of healing at home
“Can you work a miracle? Can you get IV fluids for him? He won’t go to the hospital.” This was an April 2020 text message that I will never forget. My colleague, a brilliant, jovial career intensivist hospitalist was critically ill with dehydration and hypoxia from COVID-19. He had risked his life by saving the life of his COVID-19 patient. This was the text message his wife sent as an appeal to his life.
He has always been the bullheaded, stubborn type and now was no different. The severe hypoxia was affecting his thinking. He had signed a DNR form to argue his right to stay home. After her message, I called a home health pharmacy, arranged for IV fluids, called in medications, and arranged for delivery of a high flow oxygen concentrator. With the cooperation of the pharmacy, oxygen and durable medical equipment company and home health agency, we were able to change the trajectory of his disease process. Overnight, he started to improve. At that stage of the pandemic, we were still intubating the severely hypoxic patients. We later identified intubation of COVID-19 as essentially death sentence.
It is possible that his strong desire to remain at home saved his life. Today, over one year later, he continues working to save the lives of his patients and playing on the tennis courts. His laughter continues to ring through the halls as an individual who truly approaches his job as a labor of love. Omnis Medical Group was created to help a colleague heal at home. The word omnis means everyone or all and we believe all patients deserve the opportunity to heal at home. Now Omnis Medical Group is teaming up with home-based care programs including home health and home based palliative care. Technology and remote patient monitoring allows us as medical providers to keep patients at home.