[NPInfo] Nurse Practitioner makes house calls to aid the weak and weary

[GIN11153 at aol.com]

PUBLISHED: 6:02 PM on Wednesday, August 20,  2008

New medical provider goes old school
Nurse Practitioner makes house calls to  aid the weak and weary

By Erik Stimpfle
For the CCW

JUNEAU - Local Nurse Practitioner Janna  Brewster has started a house call 
practice called Alaska In-Home Medical  Services. Some people are old enough to 
remember when the doctors came to our  homes, but for most a doctor who makes 
house calls is a relic of the past that  we only know about from watching 
television and movies.
 
However, there is a new woman in town and she carries a  medical bag and will 
visit sick people in their homes. As a nurse practitioner,  Janna Brewster is 
considered a mid-level medical provider. Nurse practitioners  are registered 
nurses who receive specialized training beyond what a regular  nurse receives. 
Nurse practitioners can diagnose and treat common illnesses,  order 
diagnostic tests, review and prescribe medications, and make referrals.  
"We do most things that family practice physicians do," Brewster said,  
describing the services she provides.  
Brewster worked as a registered nurse for 27 years before she decided to  
attend graduate school at the University of Vermont to become qualified as a  
nurse practitioner. Having worked 15 years as a homecare nurse, she cared for  
many older people who had difficulty getting to their physician or even a  
hospital. She recognized the need for house call services for these patients.  
Aside from having trouble getting to a hospital, there is also the expense  
that comes with getting admitted into a hospital for treatment by a doctor. 
It's  common knowledge that staying in a hospital can be expensive. Brewster has 
been  able to help people avoid expensive stays in the hospital by seeing them 
at  home.  
She has worked with many elderly people suffering from a variety of chronic  
illnesses, such as congestive heart failure. These fragile patients needed to 
be  seen by a doctor but they didn't need to spend the night in a hospital.  
"Basically, all it might take is a little tweaking of their medications and  
you can keep them in their home, Brewster said. "They don't need to spend the  
night in a hospital."  
Brewster said there are some doctors in town that make house calls for their  
sickest patients, but she is the only practice that does house calls  
exclusively.  
For one of her first house calls patients in Juneau, Brewster was a Godsend.  
John, who didn't want his real name used in this article, has suffered from  
chronic neck pain for 30 years, which has gotten progressively worse. John  
injured his neck jumping off an eight-foot-high partition at a construction  
site. He landed in a squatting position, looking up, and heard a popping sound  
in his neck.  
His neck didn't heal properly and over the years his pain worsened. It was  
caused by a calcium build up in his neck that was putting pressure on the 
nerves  close to his spinal column. When this would happen, John's pain was so  
excruciating that he was unable to get out of bed.  
"I would be lying in bed in so much pain that it would cause me to break down 
 and cry," he said, describing the bouts of chronic pain. "I would be 
throwing up  from the pain. I couldn't sleep for days."  
He was also frustrated by going to see doctors who told him to come back in  
two weeks for an MRI. At other times he was physically unable to get out of 
bed  to see a doctor.  
When John heard that Brewster would be making house calls he was relieved to  
know that someone would see him at home when he was ill.  
"Finally you can have a (medical provider) who will come into your house and  
look at you while the sickness is happening," John said. "They can see the  
extreme effects of that illness on you while it's happening."  
Brewster made a referral for John to see a bone and joint specialist. John  
now says his quality of life is better than ever. "I never had this before 
until  Janna helped me," John said. "Janna seems to have caught on to the fact 
that  there are people out there that need a (medical provider) to come and see 
them."   
Janna Brewster RN,MS,ANP (Alaska In-Home Medical Services) can be contacted  
at 723-6656 or _janna.aims at gmail.com_ (mailto:janna.aims at gmail.com) .  She 
will have 5-6 appointments daily Monday through Friday on a first call  basis. 
She does not currently accept private insurance but will provide a  payment 
sheet to submit to the insurance provider for reimbursement. She will  bill 
Medicare and Medicaid for those eligible.  





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