At Galaxy Home Health, medical social workers are essential and integral part of our care team and clients. Our medical social workers have the knowledge and understanding needed to provide psychosocial services to children and families experiencing the difficulties associated with illness, hospitalization, and outpatient care. In addition, a family can ask for a social worker during their loved one’s care.
What do medical social workers do?
Medical social workers provide counseling to individuals and families related to the patient’s diagnosis and medical condition. Our medical social workers help patients and families understand diagnoses, process their feelings and emotions, and understand the decisions that need to be made.
At Galaxy Home Health, medical social workers are a vital part of the patient teams. Depending on patient or family’s particular needs, our medical social workers are here to help you with:
How can a medical social worker help?
While other staff is busy treating your child’s physical ailments, our medical social workers provide additional services that can help make your family’s stay more comfortable. A medical social worker can be requested to help patients and families deal with various struggles.
A challenging illness or diagnosis: Receiving test results or hearing a diagnosis can feel overwhelming. It’s OK to need support. Ask for a social worker to help if you and your child are facing a medical challenge, such as:
Family-related stressors: Support systems are essential to recovery. Family-related stressors may include:
Psychosocial needs: Patients can suffer from behavioral, mental, or social issues that can cause stress and may worsen their condition. Contact a social worker if you or your loved one is dealing with any of the following:
Financial problems (i.e., no transportation, no money to eat, no insurance, no housing, no utility services, telephone or medical services)
Repeated stays in the medical facility.
Caregiver/patient doesn’t follow treatment or show up for appointments.
Family/patient has a history of alcohol or drug abuse.
Family conflicts with staff.
The family is unable to follow through with medical treatment.
The patient or sibling is not attending school.
Family/patient is involved in gangs/street violence.
Extended family is impeding the patient’s care.
Concern for the patient: A medical social worker may also be requested if parents, guardians, family, or care providers have concerns about a patient’s failure to thrive or abuse, neglect, or non-accidental trauma.
Helping families to address and support their medical conditions through counseling is an integral part of the Medical Social Worker’s role. In addition, medical social workers may lead support group discussions and provide individual counseling to help patients address their medical conditions and treatment. Counseling and emotional support are crucial aspects of any patient’s health care plan, especially when living with a chronic illness or condition.
Galaxy Home Health is happy to answer your questions and concerns about Medical Social Workers Services. Contact us to hear about the benefits of Medical Social Workers and how this in-home service can help you manage medical conditions and the issues surrounding your treatment and care.
We don’t believe our patients should wait to get the therapy services they need. So let our nationally recognized therapists help you or your loved ones now.
Frequently asked questions
Does having home care result in a loss of independence?
No. Our belief is that independence is being in control of your decisions. Having in home care services means being in control of your activities and retaining as much independence as each situation allows. Many of our clients just need a little help to continue living a safe and productive life while some might be recovering from a fall or surgery, or other condition. Regardless of your situation, our goal is to enable you the best possible outcome while being in control of your care and daily decisions.
How can I trust a caregiver in my home?
Just like nurses and doctors, Professional Caregivers have chosen a career in compassionate care of those in need. Galaxy Home Health implements a proprietary CareAssure Screening System which includes a comprehensive background check and screening for compassion, identity, integrity, and competence. Less than 5% of all applicants meet our stringent screen and we rarely advertise for caregivers as most come from word of mouth referral from other happy clients.
How does Galaxy Home Health attract the best caregivers?
Our Golden Rule states ‘We will not refer a caregiver into your home that we would not welcome into our own home.’ This high bar was set by our founder in 1982 and is the backbone of our mission. Similar to any working professional, caregivers are attracted to organizations that have trust, compassion, stability, and hope. We encourage you to meet one of our local Directors or Referral Specialists as they will treat you with as much compassion and dignity as they afford to each caregiver they refer.
What if we don’t like our caregiver?
Contact us and we’ll refer another caregiver quickly at no additional referral cost.
Will we have a choice in selecting the caregiver
Our CarePairing Process works with each family to understand what unique skills and personality are desired in a caregiver. Feedback from satisfied clients usually indicates that a personality match is the #1 factor in a caregiver match, so we highly encourage client input. We will then make a referral based on our experience and your input.
What is the process of finding a caregiver?
We make the process of finding a caregiver very simple and prompt using our QuickCare Placement program. Give us a call and we’ll conduct a brief phone discussion to understand your needs. We then can meet anyone involved in selecting and paying for care at your home for an in-home needs consultation. Within 24 hours of that visit we are usually able to refer a professional caregiver to your home. Our team continuously screens caregivers beyond current demand to give you quick access to the best caregivers in our community.