What Services does First Choice Provide?

Nursing Services

Our Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses provide medication management, specific disease management support and education for diseases such as COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) CHF (Chronic Heart Failure), Diabetes, Stroke, Parkinson’s Disease and others.

Physical Therapy

Our Physical Therapy team helps individuals return to maximum function or prevent loss of mobility. Through Home Health Physical Therapy, individuals can speed up their recovery in the comfortable setting of their own home. During the first visit, a physical therapist (PT) does a thorough assessment of strength and functional mobility. They also are able to do an assessment of the individual’s physical environment. The PT works with the individual to develop patient-centered goals for the therapy. The PT is able to counsel individuals about achievable goals. The individual and PT then implement a patient-centered care plan.

Occupational Therapy

Our Occupational Therapy team brings expertise to help patients translate orders to manageable daily habits and routines. During the first visit, an Occupational Therapist (OT) does a thorough assessment, including the individual’s physical environment. The OT works with the individual to develop patient-centered goals. The individual and OT then implement a patient-centered care plan that may address all of the following: Instruction in activities related to daily living tasks, Evaluation and training in adaptive equipment, Home safety assessment and instruction, Cognitive and perceptual re-education for neurologically impaired clients, Splint fabrication, fitting and training, Instruction in energy conservation techniques, Instruction in joint protection, Wheelchair seating and positioning assessment, Caregiver education and Psychosocial assessment and treatment.

Speech Therapy

Our Speech Language Pathologists (SLP) provide skilled clinical services. They work with patients to improve their quality of life through regaining the ability to eat and swallow, improving cognitive skills for increased independence, and helping to regain communication skills to express wants, needs and ideas. These problems can result from strokes, accidents, disease/illness or developmental delays. Our SLPs take advantage of being in the home to more effectively assess our patients’ “real-life” functional needs and individualize their treatment. Often times patients with dementia or cognitive impairment respond better to treatment because they’re in a familiar setting – their own home. They also work with family members and other caregivers to provide strategies to facilitate and maintain functional communicative competence.

SLPs help patients improve swallowing skills and teach compensatory strategies that help reduce the risk of aspiration pneumonia, and maintain adequate nutrition and hydration. SLPs are also trained in using adaptive speech devices. Our SLPs are E-stim Certified, a technique in which a small electric current is passed across the skin into the muscles. Stimulation by electrical current tends to facilitate muscle contraction. This activity may create a facilitator environment in which functionally impaired muscle groups may enjoy enhanced rehabilitation when paired with an appropriate and focused functional therapy program.

Home Health Aids

Our team of Certified Nursing Assistants can help individuals in their activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing and personal cares. This is a temporary service while other home health services are being provided, until the individual is independent or has other assistance arranged.