East Tennessee Children's Hospital Home Health Care is dedicated to the well-being of children who are homebound due to medical problems. The pediatric staff of nurses, therapists, dietitians, pharmacists and respiratory care specialists works with families on parental training, equipment use and daily care for the specific needs of their children.

Children's Home Health Care patients must be referred by their physician or by a Children's Hospital physician. As a Children's Hospital Home Health Care patient, you may be seen just once a month or as often as three or four times a day, including weekends. Your schedule will be set based on your family's needs and medical necessity. An appointment may last just 30 minutes or as long as an hour and a half.

Your experience with Home Health will be individualized according to your medical needs and the referral of your physician. Children who were recently in accidents and need to be homebound may receive care as prescribed by their physician for several months. A premature infant may leave the Haslam Family Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and be treated for an extended period for respiratory care needs and feeding difficulties. Children's Hospital Home Health Care offers such a variety of services that you may be seen on a temporary basis due to an accident, while your friend in another town may be seen for a respiratory illness on a regular basis, and you may share the same nurse.

Once you are referred by your physician to Home Health, a staff member will do an evaluation based on the referral and speak with you and your parents about goals for your progress. Home Health will educate you and your family about your illness, care and therapy for everyday living. Parents may need to be instructed on feeding techniques, giving medications, ordering supplies or caring for a child on an apnea monitor or oxygen.

These fictional patients depict typical scenarios of appointments with Children's Hospital Home Health Care. This article is intended only to give families a brief overview of what to expect when a child is referred to Home Health as a patient. Experiences will vary depending on a child's health and specific reasons for requiring Home Health Care. For more information, contact Children's Hospital Home Health Care at (865) 675-8181 or e-mail us.

For a pdf map and directions to the Children's Hospital Home Health Care Office, click here.

Hi! I am Latoya, and I am a Home Health Care patient, too. I live in Maryville with my mother, Tanika, and my brother, Marcus. My brother gets to go to school everyday, but since our car accident, I have to stay at home for a while. My teacher comes to my house, and my speech therapist and occupational therapist come here, too. One night when it was raining very hard, our car went out of control, and we wrecked. My mother, brother and cousin were all in the car, but no one was hurt but me. I stayed as a patient at Children's Hospital for a long time. But the worst part was when my doctor told me I may never walk again or have complete use of my arms. I can't imagine going back to high school in this chair, but I am getting better and am getting used to everything being different.

Right after our accident, my lungs had to adjust, so at first I used a breathing machine, but now I am strong enough to breathe on my own. My speech therapist, Jan, has helped me learn how to eat again, too. Many people don't understand that the muscles in your mouth have to be "trained" to work for eating, and sometimes they need to be stronger. Jan says she can see how much I am improving every day.

Once we finish working on the feeding part of my therapy, an occupational therapist named Scott comes to help me work some on the movement with my arms. At first, I could barely move my arms. I cried a lot because I was mad and would get very tired trying so much. Now I can move things around on my wheelchair table and put things into containers and feed myself. We are working on hard stuff now, like brushing my hair, buttoning buttons and using both arms in the same way. Scott is always very encouraging, even though he makes me work hard. He has taught my mother, my brother and even my cousin Malek how to help me work on my therapy when he is not here.

I also have visits from a physicial therapist named Michael; he and I talk a lot about me walking. It is hard to think about running and playing with Marcus and Malek in the back yard and not being able to play basketball any more. Michael helps me do exercises with my legs. He also taught the exercises to Marcus, who helps me while we watch TV.

I like working hard every day with Jan, Scott and Michael, and I like that they come to my house for my therapy. Someday I will be able to go back to school, and I will miss them coming to see me. I am glad Home Health allows me to get stronger every day, even in my own home.

Hi! My name is Jordan. I am almost 2 years old, and I am a patient of Children's Hospital Home Health Care. Several months ago, I was having really bad earaches. My mommy took me to see my doctor, and he gave me some medicine to make me feel better. I was taking the medicine with my juice every day like the doctor told me to, but the earaches were not getting any better.

My nurse, Lou, came to my house to give the IV medication and to teach my mother how to give the medications and know how to detect problems with the IV. My mommy was very scared at first. She was afraid she would do something wrong with the IV and hurt me. We did not understand that there were not going to be any needles involved. My pump attaches to a tube in my arm, so my mommy never has to insert an IV needle into my arm. She was very afraid that it was going to be too hard for her to learn to do. My mommy is the smartest lady I know, but she was still afraid. Lou gave special attention to teaching my mommy the right way to give the IV medications and to take care of me when she wasn't there. It only took my mommy two days, and she learned to do everything on her own. Lou made my mommy feel very good about learning quickly and properly.