“It helped me to keep on track with what I needed to do.”
In 2024, Randy, a 69-year-old South Carolina resident, faced a challenging year. His history of heart disease emerged as a more serious concern beginning in May when he underwent open-heart surgery to save his life. Reflecting on his experience, Randy shares that his journey with heart disease in 2024 “felt like it took three years, even though it’s only been a year.”
Although he’d been doing well after his surgery and was even cleared by his physician to travel and visit his daughter in Wyoming, when Randy returned home from that trip, he faced a setback. He’d become very short of breath, and noticed that he was retaining more fluid, something he’d been taught to watch for.
After a trip to the emergency room at Prisma Health’s Greer Memorial Hospital, it was determined that he was experiencing a heart failure exacerbation and would need hospitalization and IV diuretics. “My numbers were the lowest they’d ever been,” Randy recalls, referring to his ejection fraction, which was at just 20%.
Home for hospital-level care
Randy shares that while he was very pleased with the care he had received in the hospital previously, he was happy to find out that he would be able to return home for this hospital stay, thanks to Prisma Health’s Home Recovery Care program, which recently saw its 2,000th patient admission. With Home Recovery Care, eligible patients receive hospital-level care in the comfort of their own homes— in Randy’s case, it included the IV diuretics he needed, and twice daily nursing visits to check on his progress. “They took readings,” he explains, “And they even had a scale.”
This was in contrast to a busy hospital floor, which Randy notes leaves less time for the individualized care he received at home. “In the home program, I was the only patient they were seeing,” he says. “The nurses in the hospital, they were fantastic, but they had four or five other patients to see too.”
Being at home, Randy says, was the best part of the program. “Nothing beats home cooking,” he laughed. He lives with his daughter and grandchildren, something that was a plus for his recovery as he regained his strength.
After his condition stabilized, the Home Recovery Care program continued to follow his progress through a 30-day episode of care, ensuring he followed up with both his primary care physician and cardiologist. “It helped me to keep on track with what I needed to do,” he recalls. Following his recovery, Randy received a new pacemaker, which he’s happy to share has improved his ejection fraction and overall heart health.
“I’ve been very happy with Prisma Health,” Randy shares. The Home Recovery Care program, in his mind, is a great addition to the high-quality care he’s received throughout his heart failure treatment. And although he hopes he won’t need to return to the hospital, if he had the choice, he says he would prefer hospital care at home for future care. “Anything to keep me out of the hospital!” he laughed. “I would recommend it to anyone who has the right situation at home for it.”