Care Coordinators save lives and costs

Dear Editor,

Is aging at home working for you? Do you have an advocate that checks in, helps find what you need, someone to talk over what going on? I do in Sharon. We have Dena, Health Care Coordinator, because 10 years ago a group us formed the Sharon Health Initiative (SHI), to get this in place. It has paid off many times over and scooped up the isolated, people not in the system.

Our hospitals and medical facilities need this. It takes the pressure off, reduces patient emergencies, unneeded hospital stays and saves A LOT of money.

“Using data from April 2024 on Daily Medicaid Rates at Vermont Nursing Homes, the average cost is $366.58 daily, with the max at $550.75 daily cost to the state of Vermont. Based on our clientele, and their insurance, and using the average daily cost of $366.58 daily, we estimate cost savings for the state over the past month alone for only one of the five Medicaid clients we sesrve, to be $11,363.98. This one client who is wheelchair bound with a vascular dementia is absolutely dependent on SHI for the ability to remain home. There are countless others like her who we serve,” said Dena Wilke.

One problem is that Blueprint for Health needs to embrace the on-the-ground town care coordinator under its Community Health Care mandate. What’s the hold up?

Luckily our regional planning commission is in place to help your town set up a plan to get this Health Care Worker for you.

My ending plea is for more doctors and our health clinics to make use of our town heath care coordinators/nurses. They can lessen the doctor’s load and help patients along their prescribed paths.

Carol Langstaff, Sharon