Archive: Around Town

Congressman Tom Reed was in Ithaca Tuesday to present a proclamation honoring home health care professionals and their work in providing care to individuals who live independently in their own homes.  Employees of Visiting Nurse Service of Ithaca and Tompkins County (VNS) were joined by other local Health Care organization representatives in welcoming Reed.  He told them he has personal experience of home health care, saying his mother had benefited from it before she passed away in her own home.

"I have 11 older brothers and sisters.  We've seen first hand, treatment in a hospital and treatment at home," he said.  "I can assure you that the Reed family -- we like to be home.  So we want to take a moment and do the right thing and recognize everything you do here for the constituents and the people of the 23rd Congressional District here in Ithaca and Tompkins County.  Job well done."

The proclamation specifically sites Visiting Nurse Service of Ithaca and Tompkins County for keeping families together and allowing patients to receive professional care while living independentlyin their own homes.  It calls on all members of the 23rd Congressional District to recognize November as National Home Health Care Week.


"The US Congress has a big impact on Medicare policy," says NYS Home Care Association Communications Director Roger Noyes.  "A good chunk of home health care reimbursements come from Medicare, so the decisions that are made at the budget level in Congress really affect home care.  There are also regulatory issues.  Congressman Reed has been a real champion on some of the regulatory issues that we've been trying to work through the federal government to repair and reform.  Having an interface with him is important."

VNS has provided home health services in Ithaca and Tompkins County for 30 years.  It is a certified home care agency and a licensed home care agency that serves about 300 patients a day.  Services include nursing, physical therapy, ocupational therapy, diet advice, speech therapy, and health aids.

Reed took time to talk to VNS employees and representative of Classen Home Health, Comfort Keepers, Hospice & Palliative Care, and Home Care Association of New York State.  After the presentation he visited patient Tina Champion at her home in Titus Towers. 

"Congressman Reed has been very supportive of home care," says VNS Executive Director Sue Ellen Stuart.  "And he's been very active in supporting health care initiatives and helping to reduce the burden on physicians and some of the documentation.  He's an advocate and very much a supporter of home care."

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