Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind: Celebrating Home Care Heroes
Sitting on the Morgan Highway with views of Scranton and the surrounding area is Allied Services’ largest campus. It’s home to a nationally-ranked rehabilitation hospital, the area’s largest skilled nursing facility, a personal care home, an outpatient rehab center, a vocational center, a hospice center, a full-time school, and residential facilities for adults with disabilities. These are just some of an ever growing number of programs and services we have developed over many years, in response to the community’s needs.
What you don’t see when you visit any of Allied Services 50+ physical locations, are the dedicated individuals working in homes throughout the region every day of the year. More than 400 Allied Services employees currently provide care to people in homes throughout Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania. This November, we pause during Home Care and Hospice Month to recognize the contributions our highly trained and dedicated home care teams make to individuals and families in our region every day of the year.
Entering someone’s home to provide care is an honor and responsibility. It takes a special kind of person, a special kind of compassion, a special kind of knowledge and commitment to do this work. Whether it’s providing physical therapy after a fall, helping a homebound senior with household chores, support or experienced nursing care to enable someone to live well while battling illness or providing compassionate end-of-life care, these services are truly life-changing.
Home health and other home based services have been a bright light during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a lifeline for vulnerable members of the community. Our infection control staff led the way in guiding our team on protocols to keep themselves and their patients safe. Armed with that knowledge and with personal protective equipment, they have continued to venture into people’s homes to provide care where and when it is needed.
From a health standpoint, putting off or discontinuing care is not advisable, and in some cases can be life-threatening. From the start of the pandemic, we knew that we needed to provide consistency for our patients, and that meant continuing care in the home. On behalf of our leadership and the people we serve, I salute our home care workers. I am honored to work with these home town health care heroes.
Atty. Bill Conaboy, President & CEO
Allied Services Integrated Health System
