There was a time when Ms. Shirleen Parker could not walk from the back of her house to the front.
“I remember the days I used to be back there and couldn’t breathe too good,” she recalled. Fluid in her lungs made breathing and moving so difficult that she sometimes had to crawl through her own home. She remembers depending heavily on oxygen, walking through the house with an oxygen line attached to her.
Then, about two years ago, Ms. Shirleen lost her ability to walk altogether. She entered a nursing home, where she spent nearly two years working to regain her mobility. With physical therapy, support from those caring for her, and plenty of grit and determination, she eventually learned to walk again.
“I made it out of there,” she said.
Today, Ms. Shirleen is back home, managing hypertension, asthma, diabetes and mobility limitations. Her blood sugar and oxygen levels are better controlled.
“Thank God I came a long ways,” she said.
Helping her continue that progress is Hale County Hospital Home Health. Five days a week, Home Health comes to Ms. Shirleen, allowing her to receive care without her limited mobility becoming a barrier.
Home Health is a division of Hale County Hospital, extending the hospital’s care beyond its walls and into patients’ homes. Nurses and therapists can monitor patients, provide skilled care and see firsthand the everyday circumstances affecting their health. For people like Ms. Shirleen, that continuity can help them remain safely in the community while managing chronic illness.
Ms. Shirleen continues physical therapy and remains determined to preserve the independence she worked so hard to regain.
“I got a wheelchair, but I don’t want to be confined with a wheelchair,” she said.
Home Health nurses care deeply about their patients, but they also have medical responsibilities and other patients waiting for them. There is not always time during a nursing visit for all of the companionship and social support someone may need.
That is where Project Horseshoe Farm’s Health Partners program can complement Home Health. Through a partnership with Hale County Hospital, Horseshoe Farm fellows develop long-term relationships with community members, providing regular visits, transportation, help navigating everyday needs and, importantly, time together. Health Partners do not replace nurses. Instead, they add another layer of support around patients.
Ms. Shirleen has that support from her family, too. Her daughter takes time off work to bring her to appointments, and this October, around 20 family members are planning a trip to Disney World for her grandson’s birthday. Ms. Shirleen initially planned to stay home.
“Mama, you’re going on that trip. You’re going,” she remembers her daughter telling her.
After nearly two years in a nursing home relearning how to walk, that trip represents something bigger. Good healthcare is about helping people continue living the lives they value. Ms. Shirleen’s story shows what becomes possible when Hale County Hospital, Home Health, physical therapists, Health Partners and families each play their part.
“My sickness and I have came a long ways,” Ms. Shirleen said.
She has. And the care that reaches her home is helping her keep going.
