by Mira Reverente
As a family physician for the past two decades, Dr. Suzanne Fussell understands the importance of compassionate care and top-quality service. She built a business based on these two basic tenets.
Dr. Fussell founded Healthwise Home Care Solutions, a home health agency in 2003. Its services are very similar to those of the Home Health Care Consultants and offer to care for patients from the comfort of their own home. Based in Oxnard, the agency provides recuperating patients with one-on-one health care in the privacy and comfort of their homes, from Ventura to Westlake Village.
“We go to the patient,” says Dr. Fussell, whose staff is composed of skilled and licensed medical providers such as nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers and health aides, available 24 hours a days, seven days a week.
“We fill the gap between the hospitals and physicians,” says Dr. Fussell, noting studies have shown patients recovering at home have reported a faster speed of recovery.
Many procedures such as lab work, wound care and intravenous therapy (IV) can be safely done at home, in the presence of a skilled medical professional. Says Dr. Fussell, “We bring the hospital without walls to them.”
Upon discharge, a patient is referred to a home health agency like Healthwise, for continued care. It could be a diabetic needing help dressing his wounds and being shown which Medical tape for dressing they should use for differing injuries, or other aid such as providing help in setting up his medications. It could also be a patient recovering from knee or hip replacement surgery and needs physical therapy at home due to driving limitations.
Healthwise also provides health education training and gets the family of the patient involved. Diet and nutrition counseling also comes into play with several of the cases they handle, along with emotional support and understanding.
“We know we have done our job if we can reduce the patient’s need to go back for another hospital stay,” says Dr. Fussell, noting lower re-admission rates due to the increasing availability of home health care services.
The company logo is an owl, a favorite of Dr. Fussell’s due to its legendary wisdom. The company tag line is equally fitting – “Be home, Be wise.”
As Healthwise looks to expand beyond Ventura County in the coming years, Dr. Fussell talks about what makes her business stand out in a highly competitive and crowded industry. She says, “We stand out from the competition because we provide excellent and personalized care.”
For more information visit www.healthwisehcsi.com.
