HAYDEN, Idaho — The Panhandle Health District (PHD) will be closing an important part of its services.
In a press release, the PHD announced that due to staffing shortages amongst medical workers, the PHD will be slowly phasing out their home health services program. As a first step, PHD is no longer accepting new home health patients.
“We have kept the program running for as long as we could due to the dedication and compassion of our staff,” Don Duffy, PHD district director said in a press release. “We’ve had staffing shortages and underfunding of the program, all while taking on some of the most challenging and remote patient care situations in our district.”
The home health service has been a part of PHD’s programs since 1967. It is a service used by patients who no longer need to be hospitalized, but are recovering from major surgery. The service was used by 100 people a week, while eight staff employees traveled to patient homes to deliver care.
According to the press release, the employees would travel all over the district’s jurisdiction, even hiking in when clients have been snowed in, and traveling to areas with no cell service, no power, and sometimes no running water.
All patients and physicians in the program have been notified of the closure of the program. Care plans to help patients to transition out of the program have been put in place.
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