Nursing care for the entire community

This story is produced and presented by our advertiser Christiana Care Health System.

Nurses are the heart of every hospital. But in today’s world, while all health systems continue to focus on delivering high-quality hospital care, organizations like Christiana Care Health System are equally focused on keeping people healthy in the community – and hopefully keeping them out of the hospital.

Nurses play a key role in this effort.

“Community-care nurses are doing incredible things and contributing each and every day to make sure their patients receive the right care in the right place,” said Cynthia Griffin, Christiana Care’s chief nursing officer for community care. She says that today’s community-care nurses play a more critical role than ever in coordinating health care services for their patients, wherever they are. “Community-care nurses establish long-lasting professional relationships with patients and their families that promote wellness.”

At Christiana Care, nurses and nurse practitioners partner with organizations and patients to provide preventive and ongoing health care services in the community through outreach, outpatient services and the Christiana Care Visiting Nurse Association (VNA). 

Christiana Care nurses provide care for patients of all ages throughout the community. They provide care for seniors in Wilmington at St. Patrick’s Center and annual wellness visits. They care for teens throughout the Red Clay School District at 17 school-based health centers and two juvenile detention centers. 

Through outreach efforts, including health fairs and community events, they connect people to health screenings, help their neighbors to understand their risk for cancer, heart disease and the consequences of unmanaged high blood pressure. They also perform annual wellness visits for seniors. Additionally, they train community health volunteers known as promotoras de salud, who help Spanish-speaking neighbors take steps to manage preventable complications of diabetes. 

“Lillian Wald, who founded the community nursing movement, called nursing ‘love in action,’” said Christiana Care Chief Nurse Executive Ric Cuming.“Our nurses who serve in our community demonstrate that by making a positive difference in the health of our neighbors every day.”

For patients with chronic conditions or recovering from injury or illness at home, nurses from Christiana Care’s VNA monitor vital signs, counsel patients on taking medications as prescribed, assess fall risks and lend support and encouragement to family members in their caregiver role. Home-care nurses also help new parents ensure the healthiest possible start for their newborns in their first weeks at home.

The VNA makes nearly 300,000 visits to help Delawareans annually.

“We strive to give our patients the utmost confidence to be able to take care of themselves safely and confidently at home,” said Christiana Care VNA Nurse Irine Devroude.

For patients and families facing Alzheimer’s disease, Christiana Care’s Evergreen Center is the only adult day program dedicated to people with dementia. The nurse-led program offers a full-day model of therapy, recreation, cognitive skill-building and activities that help participants with social skills, stress management and self-confidence. The Evergreen Center is also a clinical training site for the next generation of community health practitioners, including University of Delaware nursing students.

“Our families tell us they wouldn’t know what to do without us,” said Evergreen Center Program Director Brooke Groff, who is a nurse and certified dementia practitioner. “We become part of their family,” she said. “We are their respite.”

In Christiana Care’s outpatient practices, community-care nurses are key members of the clinical team in designing highly personalized care plans for patients. Through Christiana Care’s innovative Carelink CareNow care coordination service, nurses implement high-tech, real-time health data to coordinate care necessaryto prevent disease and ensure smooth transitions after hospitalization. The service also helps patients handle chronic disease by focusing on symptom management, follow-up appointments and ensuring access to the proper medications and social services.

Whether coordinating health care services, providing outpatient care and therapy or educating members of the community on living a healthy lifestyle, the nurses are united by their mission. “At Christiana Care, we serve together, guided by our values of excellence and love,” Cuming said. “In our hospitals and in the community, the patient is at the center of all we do.”

Christiana Care is twice-designated by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Magnet®health system, the nation’s preeminent recognition for nursing excellence. 

Members of the editorial and news staff of the USA Today Network were not involved in the creation of this content.