TIFFIN—Mercy Home Care recently became the first home health agency in Seneca County to offer Telehealth Monitoring.

Telehealth is designed to assist home care patients dealing with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). The monitoring system includes an electronic blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter to monitor the oxygen level in the blood, and weight scales (weight increase is often an early sign of heart failure).

Telehealth allows a patient’s vital signs to be taken and poses a set of questions for him or her to answer. Information is then transmitted to a Web site monitored by Mercy Home Care and passed along to the patient’s physician. If a problem is suspected, a home care professional can respond immediately.

“Patients are taught how to use the system,” says Coleta Schmidlin, regional director of Mercy Home Care. “It is simple to use, records daily vital signs and provides reminders for our patients such as when to take their medications. Patients love Telehealth because it provides them with comforting security and there is no extra cost to them or their insurance company as long as they are using Mercy Home Care.

“It also provides cost savings because it decreases the number of visits needed from our nurses,” she adds. “In addition, studies show that re-admissions are reduced by 50 percent for patients utilizing Telehealth.”

For more information on Telehealth Monitoring or home care services, contact Mercy Home Care at 419-455-8180 or toll free at 1-800-481-7755.