Perham Memorial Home Care's Deb Herbst speaks at national conference

 Perham, Minn.; November 9, 2009 Deb Herbst, RN, BSN, PHN, Perham Memorial Home Care Clinical Manager, was featured as a speaker at the National Association for Home Care annual conference in Los Angeles, California, October 10-14. Deb was invited to speak about a teaching program she helped create in partnership with Rochester Community and Technical College and Acorn’s End Training and Consulting. Peggy Harris, Director of Corporate Learning Projects at the college and Pat Jump with Acorn’s End Training and Consulting presented with Deb.

The program is the first of its kind in the home care field. The need was recognized becausethere was not a training tool available specifically for home care aides that teach the importance of the choices they make and how the consequences may affect a patient. Deb played an important role in developing the flow of the questions and testing the program with her staff. With this interactive computer program, the students learn that there are consequences for the choices they make in patient-care situations, reinforce the correct actions and stresses the importance of reporting their findings.

 “It is important that home care professionals have developed skill sets and understand the consequences their actions have,” said Herbst. “This program will be vital to the formation of those skill sets and is an invaluable teaching asset. Ultimately, the program will ensure that best care practices are followed to provide the best patient care possible.”

For more information about the program, contact Peggy Harris at Margaret.Harris@roch.edu or Patricia Jump at PatriciaJump@AcornsEnd.com.

The National Association for Home Care is the nation's largest trade association representing the interests and concerns of home care agencies, hospices, home care aide organizations, and medical equipment suppliers.

Perham Memorial Home Care is the oldest home care agency in Otter Tail County and is Joint Commission Accredited, state-licensed, and Medicare-certified.  Perham Memorial Home Care’s team of medical experts includes registered nurses, physical, occupational, and speech therapists, and home health aides, that work together with each client and his or her family. Together, they meet the health needs of people who are best served at home. Services are provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to persons living within a 30-mile radius of Perham. For more information on home care services, Perham Memorial Home Care can be reached by calling (218) 346-1192.