This article was originally published in the Week of March 17, 2008 issue of Oklahoma City's Nursing Times (okcnursingtimes.com), by Mike Lee. Reprinted with permission.  You can download this issue by clicking here.

Sandy Dunson, R.N., has been in nursing since 1999. During that time she’s worked medical/surgical, labor and delivery and home health.

But she says her most challenging nursing doesn’t involve actually taking vital signs, it’s putting her finger on the pulse of a family that has a sick child. Dunson is the pediatriac program director for Mays Home Care. She loves the fact that her company makes a difference in the lives of Oklahoma families.

"Every case is very, very different," she said. "It is an extreme challenge to match the nursing behavior or their attitudes and personalities with the right home environment so it’s a productive environment for the patient and the family."

Dunson got involved in nursing after helping her grandmother who had Alzheimers. From there the twists and turns of her career led her to Mays and eventually to the pediatric program. She says pediatric nursing isn’t for every nurse. And when you consider the job takes a nurse inside someone’s homes for extended periods, the list of candidates drops considerably.

"It’s very hard to be honest," Dunson said of staffing. "It takes a very special person to stay in a hour for eight to 12-hour shifts and take care of the medically dependent children so it’s a challenging situation for us."

Mays has had the pediatric program for almost one year now. The program provides private-duty nursing in the home allotted on the amount of time the state allows and the child’s medical needs. Typical patients include those on vents, those with NICU buttons and those on trachs.

"It’s to help keep those patients at home," Dunson said of the service Mays provides

While Mays nurses are there for the patients, inevitably the whole family benefits.

"It gives them that break so they can come back to that and be able to care for the remainder of their family as well as the child," Dunson said of the break nurses provide for parents. "We provide a support system for the child and the family."

Started in eastern Oklahoma as a rural-based company, Mays has quickly grown into a leader in the state in the area of home healthcare including hospice care.

One of the company's more popular services is its HomeCall branch. A HomMed unit allows HomeCall to monitor the vital signs and clinical status of patients without sending a nurse to the patient's home.

Daily and PRN measurements can be made of heart rate, blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, weight, oxygen saturation, temperature, blood glucose levels, and tidal volumes. The visits are logged daily and sent directly into HomeCall's computer system.

Mays Home Care has developed many specialty programs including: Wound Care, Chronic Disease Management, Infusion Therapy, Total Parenteral Nutrition, Telemedicine, PICC Line Management, 24-hour Pulse Oximetry, and Home Ultrasound & Iono/Phono Pharesis.

Mays' staff provides skilled nursing, home care aides, physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy. Late last year, Mays learned that it had been named to the 2007 HomeCare Elite, a compilation of the most successful Medicare-certified home health care providers in the United States.

This annual review identifies the top 25% of agencies, ranked by an analysis of performance measures in quality outcomes, quality improvement and financial performance. The 2007 HomeCare Elite also indicates those providers who are included in the Top 100 and Top 500 of providers nationwide.

"We applaud the success of all the providers named to the 2007 HomeCare Elite," said Bill Bassett, Senior Director of Market Strategy at OCS, Inc. "Being noted as one of the top performers in the nation in this very competitive environment shows that May’s Home Care is dedicated to quality and performance."

May’s Home Care, CEO/Administrator Erik Drennen credits high quality nursing and leadership with a strong vision of what Home Care can be with the company’s ability to rank as one of the HomeCare Elite.

"I am very proud of the team of nurses we have at Mays and their dedication to providing quality patient care," Drennen said.

The 2007 HomeCare Elite is the only performance recognition of its kind in the home health industry.