Walking The Talk And Winning Awards in Home Care!

StayingWELL Services caregiver training

In photo: Jessica Spears, StayingWELL Supervisor, provides hands-on caregiver training with “Alex,” RVNAhealth’s training manikin

RVNAhealth StayingWELL Home Care Services Wins 2024 Best of Home Care – Leader in Experience Award

For the second year in a row, RVNAhealth StayingWELL Services has won the distinguished Best of Home Care – Leader in Experience Award from Home Care Pulse (HCP), the leading firm in experience management for home care. As a Leader in Experience, StayingWELL Services is now recognized among the top 15% of over 3,000 home care agencies nationwide participating in the HCP Experience Management Program. For Melissa Woodhouse, Director of RVNAhealth’s StayingWELL Services, excellence in non-medical home care starts with listening to our clients and having the best caregivers!

Home Care Pulse 2024 StayingWELL Awards

Walking The Talk in Client and Caregiver Satisfaction

A firm believer in the adage, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure,” Woodhouse and team sit down monthly to review satisfaction and experience feedback that comes in continuously from our clients and caregivers. “We’ve been using Home Care Pulse for unbiased feedback for over four years. The insight and information we receive have been invaluable to the management and success of our services. We are particularly proud of our improvements over the past year. The 2023 Home Care Pulse data shows that we outperformed 70% of other nationwide home care agencies in both client overall satisfaction with their daily life and client ratings of their caregiver abilities.” Woodhouse attributes these outstanding results to their increased investment in caregiver training programs – all which tie back to client and caregiver feedback.

Investing In Our Caregivers and Delivering the Best in Client Home Care

All new caregivers hired by RVNAhealth StayingWELL Services go through an orientation program with training by experienced supervisory staff. This past year, StayingWELL Services acquired usage of and incorporated a full-sized healthcare training manikin (nicknamed, Alex) to elevate hands-on training. All caregivers now receive group and individual hands-on training in techniques such as bathing, dressing, transfers, and more. “This additional ‘hands-on’ training now provided in the office, before a caregiver goes out to a client, has been a significant game-changer,” says Woodhouse. “Caregivers learn more and feel more confident, and our supervisors obtain better assessments of caregiver capabilities and can customize ongoing learning needs. This ultimately has led to better pairings of caregivers to client needs — which has had a great impact on our client and caregiver satisfaction scores.”

Melissa Woodhouse, RVNAhealth Director of StayingWELL Services

In addition to its caregiver training, StayingWELL also prides itself on a continued robust supervisory and support team. “I am pleased to hear positive feedback from both clients and caregivers about the support we provide to our caregivers. In addition to orientation and training, our three full time home care supervisors go out with caregivers for every new assignment and for any client status changes. This is another differentiator for us,” says Woodhouse.

“Having won this prestigious home care award last year, and then seeing the continued efforts of our team to push for and achieve even higher satisfaction – I am just extremely proud.  Our team of 200+ caregivers and support staff come to work and make the quality of our clients’ lives their number one priority each day. It is very exciting to be able to share this year’s award and results with our team and celebrate all that they do!”

About RVNAhealth StayingWELL Services

RVNAhealth StayingWELL Services provide non-medical at-home personal and household daily living assistance to help you retain independence and live safely, comfortably, and joyfully at home or wherever you reside. Available 365 days annually, for short- or long-term durations, our caregivers serve over 35 communities in Connecticut. To learn more, please visit our StayingWELL Services website or call 203-438-5555.

Going Somewhere? RVNAhealth Travel Health Will Have You Ready!

Travel Vaccines at RVNAhealth

Honeymoon?
Babymoon?
Student term abroad?
Retirement travel?
Volunteer mission trip?
International business?
Anniversary celebration?
Bucket list travel?

Whatever drives your need to explore the world, travel can make you feel wonderfully alive! But…it can also expose you to serious health and safety threats!

According to the CDC, “As many as 43%–79% of travelers to low- and middle-income countries become ill with a travel-associated health problem. Although most of these illnesses are mild, some travelers become sick enough to seek care from a health care provider.”

Before you go, get in the know by visiting the RVNAhealth travel health clinic. Here, you will learn about the most up-to-date information about your destination and receive recommendations and vaccinations to keep you safe and healthy.

Our trained nurses provide:

  • Itinerary-specific health advice;
  • Discussion of and administration of required and recommended immunizations;
  • Preventative medication for Malaria, Altitude Sickness, Traveler’s Diarrhea
  • Education on safe food/water practices;
  • Insect precautions;
  • Environmental considerations.

Travel health and vaccine consultations are available in person OR virtually by phone/Zoom.

Vaccine administration requires a visit to our clinic. For virtual consultations, our nurse will schedule a consultation with you over the phone to review your trip. If it is determined that vaccines are needed, then a follow-up office appointment will be scheduled to administer vaccines. Consultation and Convenience Fees apply – Effective 1/10/24.

To schedule an appointment, call RVNAhealth at 203.438.5555 or email BeWell@rvnahealth.org.  In person appointments are held at our offices at 27 Governor Street in Ridgefield. Appointments should be scheduled 4 to 6 weeks prior to travel, especially if preventative vaccines or medications are required/recommended, but we will do our best to help you with last-minute appointments.

RVNAhealth Travel Health Nurses can administer the following commonly needed travel vaccinations/medications*:

  • Hepatitis A & B
  • Yellow Fever {we are a U.S. Government Certified Yellow Fever Center}
  • Typhoid
  • Rabies
  • Japanese Encephalitis
  • Polio
  • Meningitis
  • Measles {MMR}
  • Preventative medication for: Malaria, Altitude Sickness, Traveler’s Diarrhea

We can also provide advice on ways to avoid the mosquitos that carry diseases such as:

  • Zika virus
  • Yellow fever
  • Malaria
  • Dengue fever
  • Chikungunya

To learn more or schedule an appointment, call 203.438.5555 or email BeWELL@rvnahealth.org.

*RVNAhealth is not able to bill to insurance for the consultation or vaccines. Payment is accepted via check or credit card. You will be given an itemized receipt with insurance diagnosis codes, which you can use to submit to your insurance company for reimbursement, if you choose to do so.