If your minor child is recovering at home from a severe injury or illness, you may not be able to take enough time off work to attend to his or her daily needs until he or she can return to school. Even if your child is old enough to stay home alone during the day, he or she may need some extra medical care -- like wound cleaning and dressing, physical therapy, or medication assistance (such as intravenous antibiotics). How can you ensure your child receives the treatment he or she needs in order to quickly heal if you're not able to provide this treatment yourself? Read on to learn more about how a home health care worker may be able to help your child's recovery.
What services may a home health nurse be able to provide?
Although home health nurses are often associated with the care giving needs of elderly individuals, they are available for all ages and conditions. A home health nurse can visit your home once or twice per day for a relatively brief period of time to check on your child's condition and perform any treatments or care needed to help keep your child healthy and on the road to recovery. If your child has a wound or broken bone, the home health nurse will be able to check, clean, and change the wound's dressing and ensure that your child has been taking the prescribed antibiotics. If your child is instead recovering from a severe illness, the nurse will be able to check your child's condition against past notes, monitor symptoms, and administer medication or other treatments (like a nebulizer or inhaler).
How can you help pay for these services?
In many cases, this care may be covered by your primary health insurance policy. If you're considering hiring a home health nurse, your first step should be to contact your insurance agent and carefully go through the exact types of care covered by your policy. Often, home health care might be covered, but services classified as "housekeeping" (like changing bedding or feeding) are not covered, so if you're told this service is denied, you'll want to ensure that you fully understand the specific services that are covered and not covered. You should also consider talking to a home health agency, like The Village At Morrisons Cove, to discuss what services they can perform or if they can work with your insurance company.
If your health insurance policy doesn't pay for this service and you and your family are relatively low-income, you may want to investigate Medicaid coverage for this treatment. Some states with expanded Medicaid coverage for children may help pay for home health services as long as these services are needed only on a temporary basis.
