HCU News
HCU Employee Goes Above and Beyond
Posted Tuesday, April 29th, 2014 by Mike Trevino

Jessica Trevino knew she had to do something. As a field supervisor at Health Care Unlimited, she wasn’t about to let the sudden loss of Medicaid benefits impact the healthcare Ms. Jones, a client at HCU’s McAllen office, was receiving. It has been several days since Jones, who is blind and wheelchair-bound, had had a meal or a bath, and when Trevino was notified, she went to make a courtesy visit. “We don’t usually go out there to do courtesy visits,” says Trevino. “But I was asked to this time. If that was a family member of mine, I would hope that they would do the same for them.”

This level of care and commitment is typical with HCU and the agencies it works with. Providing quality home health care in challenging situations requires real attention to detail, and an almost selfless dedication to doing the right thing. In her work to resolve Ms. Jones’ case, Trevino reached out to multiple resources in the area, ensuring that someone would be there to cover all the bases when she herself couldn’t make it out to the house. “I had to coordinate care with APS and was able to obtain services for Ms. Jones under a different company,” says Trevino. “They were very helpful with having another person there [at the house] when we couldn’t be there.”

It took three days for a referral to a new home health agency to be made, and for Ms. Jones’ Medicaid to be reinstated, and during that time Trevino made multiple visits—on her own time—to make sure she had everything she needed to care for herself. Sometimes it was warm food—

Trevino remembers bringing her Wendy’s once—and sometimes it was a few easy to prepare food items like cereal or bread and peanut butter. “I know she really appreciated it when I prepared the coffee machine with the coffee grounds and water so that she could wake up and press her coffee maker’s on button and brew some coffee,” recalls Trevino. “Remember, she’s blind.”

People who are homebound like Ms. Jones are often in a difficult position, especially when—as in this case—family is unable or unwilling to provide care. That’s just one of the things that makes quality home care like the kind provided by HCU so invaluable to the communities we serve. Oftentimes, people like Ms. Jones have no one else looking out for them or checking in on them, which makes consistent, mindful home care critically important. Without the intervention, Trevino notes Ms. Jones might’ve ended up relying on her neighbors for food—a likely dangerous proposition, given Ms. Jones’ condition. Trevino says, despite the extra work required, she can’t ignore the needs of others. “I can’t leave with a clear conscience. I have to do it [take care of people] or it will bug me,” she says. “If it was a family member of mine, I would hope someone would do the same for them.”

Contact Us
1-800-825-7780