SYLACAUGA – The Coosa Valley Medical Center’s HomeCare Unit became the latest division of the hospital to win a national award.

The unit was named a member of the 2014 HomeCare Elite by OCS HomeCare by National Research Corporation and DecisionHealth in November. It is the second time the unit has won the recognition, the first coming in 2011.

The award recognizes the HomeCare unit as among the top 25 percent of all Medicare-certified units across the United States.

Lynne Holmes, director of nursing at the hospital, said she was proud of the HomeCare unit to take home its second HomeCare Elite recognition.

“I think that we have a great team in our home health agency,” Holmes said. “I think it just shows that our primary care is the patient, and (in) trying to get the patient as well as they possibly can be, that we’ve got the patients concern in the forefront.”

HomeCare units will visit patients who are unable to travel to an office to receive physical health care. To be eligible for the award, recipients are ranked by an analysis of performance measures, including best practices, implementation, patient experience, quality improvement and financial performance.

Jaclynn Traffanstedt, a patient care representative from the HomeCare unit, echoed Holmes’ sentiments on the award.

Traffanstedt said the award was proof that people in the area do not need to travel anywhere else to receive their care. Indeed, the CVMC’s HomeCare unit serves seven counties surrounding Sylacauga.

“It really validates that you can get excellent care right here in your own community,” Traffanstedt said. “You don’t have to go far to get great care. You can get it right here, in your back yard.”

The HomeCare unit has been in place at the CVMC for roughly 20 years and typically treats the physical needs of geriatric patients. In 2014 alone, the unit treated roughly 400 people in their homes.

To be a part of the HomeCare unit, one simply need be a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse, although they do need training on home health in general, as well as performing assessments of visits.

The 21 members of the HomeCare unit do more than simply stop by, provide care and leave, however. They can also give advice on proper care concerning such things as reactions to medicine and proper dosages.

The nurses who visit patients’ homes are more than just care providers. They also do an excellent job of personalizing their visits. Patients who may need home care after a number of years have routinely asked for the same nurses who treated them before, simply for the relationship that developed in their previous treatment.

It’s a perk of the job that is sometimes not as easy to pull off when working with patients in clinics or hospitals.

Regardless, Holmes said she was more than proud of the work the HomeCare unit put in to receive its latest recognition.

“Home health is an area where you either love it or you don’t like it at all,” Holmes said. “And to be able to go into a patient’s home, into a completely new environment for each patient, really says a lot for the team that we’ve got.”