x
Breaking News
More () »

Panhandle Health District to stop providing home health services for North Idaho patients

The program has stopped accepting patients and begun implementing end of service care to to their current patients.
Credit: Me
The Panhandle Health District building.

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. 

KREM ON SOCIAL MEDIA:Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP 
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE

HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE 

ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.

Fire TV: Search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.

To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com

Before You Leave, Check This Out