People think that doctors who make house calls went the way of the horse-drawn carriage. But VITAS patients and their families open their doors to dedicated doctors for whom house calls are just another day at the office.

Jenelyn Lim, MD (Photo Credit: VITAS)

“We bring our care to patients; they don’t come to us,” says Jenelyn Lim, MD, medical director for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care of the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Lim oversees the hospice physicians who are part of the interdisciplinary team, along with nurses, hospice aides, social workers, chaplains and volunteers.

What she gets in return is time. “I am encouraged to spend more time with patients,” Dr. Lim says. “I get to know our patients and their families. I can answer questions, calm fears. Hospice is very rewarding to a physician.”

VITAS hospice professionals are available to their patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week through home visits and the company’s Telecare® service. If patients have a medical crisis, VITAS Intensive Comfort Care® puts a nurse at the patient’s bedside up to 24 hours a day. VITAS patients don’t have to choose between the comforts of home and the round-the-clock care of hospitalization.

In a time of heroic medical effort and high-tech procedures, hospice patients choose something more old-fashioned: comfort, dignity, home. There is calm, not crisis. There are laughter, tears and time to make memories.

“House calls may seem old fashioned,” says Dr. Lim, “but they are smart medicine.”

Provided by VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® of the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information call 1.800.337.2058 or go to VitasBayArea.com.

Posted: February 2013