Los Gatos Weekly-Times

News

Nurses visit the homes of town's elderly

By Judy Peterson

A program that brings nurses into the homes of elderly Los Gatos residents is so popular that it rarely has openings for new patients. But the director of the Health Place, Lisa Rauch, says there is currently space for four new, low-income patients.

San Jose State University's school of nursing sponsors the Health Place. Students in their last year of nursing school spend one semester in the field working hands-on with patients. "They take their blood pressure, check their lungs, go over their medications, things like that," Rauch said. "It's like another set of eyes monitoring them."

The nurses also help patients manage health problems, answer questions related to aging and give advice on ways to stay healthy.

Rauch said, "Sometimes they simply forget to drink water and they end up in the emergency room."

There are 10 student nurses working in Los Gatos on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Home visits can be scheduled weekly or every two weeks, depending on a patient's needs. People can also go to the Los Gatos Neighborhood Center at 208 E. Main St. for an office visit. The service is free.

The Health Place nurses have a roster of between 35 and 40 patients at any given time. "Most are over 85 years old," Rauch said. "They're living independently in their homes."

Since the program relies on nurses who are in school, Rauch said concern arose about what would happen to patients during the summer months. She says the town of Los Gatos stepped up, giving the Health Place a grant so it could operate year-round.

Another innovative nursing program has just started at Community Hospital of Los Gatos. It is called the Versant RN Residency and is like an internship for new nurses. However, the nurses are paid employees of Community Hospital.

The program lasts 18 weeks and includes classroom instruction, floor work and mentoring. "They start us with a less experienced nurse so we're closer in skills," said Erica Healey. She joined Community Hospital two weeks ago and is a recent DeAnza College nursing graduate. "We also have a mentor who is basically our best friend in the hospital. They're our lifeline," she said.

From the hospital's standpoint, the program offers a good way to recruit and keep nurses. Healey agrees. "I had an offer from a hospital in San Francisco and I was told I'd have about six weeks of on-the-job training," she said. "It honestly scared me to be responsible for very sick patients in six weeks."

In contrast, Healey says as nurses progress through the 18-week Versant residency, they become "more and more fully responsible for patients."

Since Healey lives in San Jose the commute also figured into her decision. But she says, "Probably 90 percent of the reason I chose Community Hospital is because of the residency program."

For more information about the Versant RN Residency, visit www.versant.org. To contact a Health Place nurse, call 408.924.6506.