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As the Home Centered Care Institute (HCCI) prepares to attend AAPA 2022 — the American Academy of Physician Assistants national conference at the Indianapolis Indiana Convention Center on May 19-25 — we talked to Christine Gardella, MMS, PA-C, Founder/Owner of Medicine at Home. Her practice focuses on home-based care for older adults in Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Gardella will help kick off the main programming on May 21 beginning at 8 am ET (7 am CT) with her session entitled, “Palliative Medicine and Hospice Care in 21st Century Medicine Work in the Great New Frontiers: PAs in Hospice, TH/TM and Home Medicine.”
“My presentation is all about house calls, why they work, and why physician assistants [PAs] can and should consider doing this,” Gardella said. As a PA practicing home-based care, Gardella explained that her role is to coordinate wraparound care tailored to the patient. “Typically,” Gardella said, “I will go into a home and bring together a patient team. I say, ‘OK, we will have this home health company, the nurses report to me, we will do this wound care,’ and so on.”
As part of her role, she also brings other professionals and services from the community into the home like imaging, lab work, nursing, physical therapy, podiatry, and occupational and speech therapies. “Also, all my patients have some level of dementia or anxiety, so I need to be able to address that,” Gardella said.
While house calls require her to wear many hats, Gardella finds them all meaningful. “As soon as I come into the home, I see immediate results,” she said. “Patients are grateful because they say they no longer feel alone. And the caregivers feel so much relief because they finally have support.”
Visit HCCI at booth 542 in the AAPA Exhibit Hall from May 21-23.
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