Home Health Care
Dear Editor: I am extremely dismayed that SEARHC has decided to close their Home Health department. The recent letters to the editor have described why this service is vital to the community. Sitkans have been receiving home health care services since the 1990s when Sitka Community Hospital established their Home Health department. SEARHC created their own Home Health department after they purchased Sitka Community Hospital. SEARHC has now chosen to close the department citing the burden of regulatory paperwork.
Closing the department is a huge mistake. Juneau was without home health care services for a year when Catholic Services discontinued their program. Realizing the great need for home health services, Bartlett Hospital opened a Home Health department this July.
The Home Health department has a very specific focus with a coordinated team approach. It will be impossible for SEARHC to provide the equivalent quality of care to home- bound patients without the Home Health department.
SEARHC needs to reverse their decision to close Home Health.
Susan Litman, Sitka
