By Michael Kanaabi Dollar
While the world was trying to figure out how to get on top of the whole Covid-19 pandemic and it’s unintended consequences, Julius Habumugisha who had just gotten his career in the medical field up and running not so long ago was also thinking about an innovation that could effectively solve some of the emerging challenges in the medical field at the time of which providing home based medical care was key.
His breakthrough came in 2021 on the 4th of April having operated informally for about a year while testing the effectiveness of his business model when his company Teamwork Homecare services Limited which he runs as Founder and CEO was formally incorporated as a specialist home based medical care services provider, one of the few we have in the country to date.
How it started
Having been in the medical field for sometime Julius Habumugisha had started noticing the gaps in home based medical care services as far back as 2019.
“ Many patients we would treat and discharge from hospital when we consider them much improved to go and recover fully from home some times would relapse, get worse and in some unfortunate circumstances actually pass on due to poor post hospital management of their conditions” he says.
Opening in a Crisis
As the Covid 19 pandemic took shape and shook the world in 2019, hospitals were overwhelmed with patient numbers as the disease took it’s toll on the general populace.
During this time medical practitioners started to realize the importance of home based medical care and recommended this for many patients who were not in critical condition.
Many of the patients receiving home based medical care also needed oxygen cylinders to keep them alive as they could no longer breathe entirely with out the support of medical oxygen because of the effect of Covid 19.
“ Home based nurses were also needed to help administer drugs and ensure these patients were following the right treatment regimens as recommended by the Doctors. The above two scenarios gave Teamwork Homecare services an entry point into the home based medicare provision subsector and we have never looked back” Habumugisha says.
This came with many needing oxygen cylinders to get delivered to their homes and also have nurses assist them effectively put on the oxygen masks and manage the disease. Teamwork Home care rode on this and other home health care needs to establish itself as a reliable service provider of home based medical care.
The excessive demand and strain on health workers brought about by Covid 19 forced other aspects of health care to be neglected and on top of providing home based medical care to Covid 19 patients, those in need of post surgery care, post delivery care, elderly care, end of life or what we call palliative care also created the demand our service had to effectively fulfill and we have moved forward steadily from then to date Habumugisha adds.
How does it work?
It begins with a patient or some one on behalf of the one who needs the care reaching out to us through our phone contacts that are available 24 hours, physically at our offices in Naalya estates Golden Apartments or through our website www.teamworkhomecare.com.
You book an appointment, a member of our team comes to your location, a complete assessment ( full body check up) of the patient or elderly person is done and then a treatment plan or way forward is laid out by a Doctor.
It’s based on the medical report that we work out a treatment or management plan of the patient whether it involves a physio, a Counselor, nutritionist, bed side nurse etc, sign a contract laying out the plan and financial implications to the client, a deposit is done and the team commences managing the patient.
Growth and Expansion
Not yet where they want to be, Teamwork Homecare services has however grown quite substantially since they their doors to providing home based medicare to patients.
Demand for their services had really picked up by the middle of 2021 and this meant that the company had to go beyond providing home care nurses and delivering oxygen cylinders to patients homes and incorporate other aspects of medicare provision.
As a result, they added 4 Physicians and one Resident Specialist to the team to help them attend to patients better. Among the Specialists they had to outsource was a Paediatrician, a Kidney Specialist, Gynaecologist, Neuro surgeon, Cardiologist and neurologist to mention but a few.
Teamwork Homecare’s number of nurses on their books has also grown significantly over time to 50 in total even though most of them are temporary only coming in when there is need, same is the case with the Doctors who Habumugisha says now total to 12 plus 15 Specialists who also work with them on a part time basis.
Having gotten the right skills on board with in Teamwork Homecare’s ranks, Habumugisha the company’s Founder is confident they can meet the specific medical needs and challenges of diverse patients.
Habumugisha says “they can effectively handle most cases including emergencies that may happen at home or in workplaces and require on site first aid treatment before referral to an established hospital.”
When contacting Teamwork Homecare during day either through telephone or email, immediate response is guaranteed however after working hours Habumugisha says they do respond within 15 minutes from the time you contact them.
Why are Homecare nurses needed?
A growing number of patients especially the elderly prefer the privacy, comfort and convenience their homes offer them so they prefer being treated from there.
And in cases where they have no family members readily available to support and be by the patient’s side, home care nurses come in handy.
Effectively administering post admission care can also be challenging for non medical care givers for example where a patient still requires some intravenous treatment, specialized feeding as recommended by the patient’s Doctor and maintaining adequate hygiene standards for effective healing. All these call for having a trained bed side nurse or other specialists to ensure full quick recovery.
Incases where the would be care giver is in full time employment and can’t be available either during the day or night, a Homecare nurse can fill in effectively.
It also turns out to be a little less costly than full time medical admission especially in private hospitals and health care facilities.
Challenges
Access to good health services among the lowly of our communities is still a challenge, Teamwork Homecare has done outreaches often on monthly basis and given free treatment and consultation to community members in places like Ntinda, Kyambogo and others.
However in these outreaches they have also discovered that many people have challenges accessing medicines due to prohibitive costs and therefore urge those who can support them to help more people access home care medication to reach out.
Limited knowledge on the value of their services is still an issue as well and for this they are doing radio show outreaches first on Radio Muhabura with plans to do the same on other stations as well.
What Next for Teamwork Homecare ?
An application to integrate all their services and make them just a single click away is in the works, all aimed at simplifying and increasing access for patients.
They are also developing an advanced feature on Teamwork Homecare’s website where one’s medical records will be stored and tracked or accessed by them remotely for example if they have a hospital appointment and forget their documents, they can access all records through the site with privacy settings embedded to ensure no one else has access to this data minus the owners permission.
Plans are under way to set up remote branches of Teamwork Homecare services in rural areas to serve the rural populations wit less access to good medical care effectively.
How does one access their services?
One must provide the team at Teamwork Homecare their full names, the condition they have must be diagnosed, a contract offer is then signed with us, assessment of the patient is done and they choose preference of a nurse or care giver who understands their language.
The basic consultation packages start from 20,000 Ugx and above with the various packages of services and costs laid out on the company’s website. On Monday at 10:00am only they do offer free tele consultation but a fee is charges at all other times.
Habumugisha says they have handled over 400 cases since commencing operations and are looking forward to treating many more through their home based medical care model.
Email: michaelkanaabi@gmail.com
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