News Photo by Kayla Wikaryasz On Friday, MyMichigan Home Care Northern Michigan nurses and staff are seen in the Annex building at MyMichigan Health Center Alpena before going on home health visits. Rachel Aultman, system vice president of post acute care, said that MyMichigan Home Care Northern Michigan nurses circumvented many challenges during and after the recent ice storm in Northeastern Michigan.

ALPENA — MyMichigan Home Care Northern Michigan was greatly affected by the recent ice storm that presented the nursing staff with many challenges. The home care program relied on their sister branch in Midland to keep communication between staff and patients accessible despite power outages.

According to Rachel Aultman, system vice president of post acute care, the home care program offers speech therapy, nursing, physical therapy, and other in-home services. The center serves Alpena, Presque Isle, Montmorency, and Alcona counties.

All of these counties were affected by the recent ice storm.

During the storm, and in the wake of it, Aultman explained that many staff members were without power and had limited cell service. Staff were also concerned about limited fuel, downed power lines, and fallen trees.

“A lot of our staff without power were concerned about how to get to the office,” Aultman said.

Further, staff were concerned as to how they would reach patients since many were also without power and whose homes were inaccessible due to fallen trees and powerlines. This made care difficult for many nurses.

“Some patients had to be brought into the hospital,” Aultman explained.

When the storm began, Aultman explained that the MyMichigan Home Care team was immediately included in the hospital command center. Immediate concerns for the center were providing oxygen and wound care.

To provide wound care, for example, Aultman said nurses need power access to run equipment necessary for that type of service. Aultman also said that the home care program has a significant number of wound patients to care for. This made the situation more complicated.

“We were concerned patients would not be discharged,” Aultman said.

Aultman said that MyMichigan Home Care relied on the larger hospital system of MyMichigan Health to ensure that quality care was provided to their patients. However, because there are 100 to 125 patients in Alpena County alone, patient visits were prioritized.

“We tapped into the full team to reach out to patients,” Aultman said. “I am incredibly proud of the way our staff responded.”

Overall, Aultman said that due to the power outages, poor driving conditions, fallen trees, and downed power lines, staff faced many challenges.

“Some patients were unable to be contacted because of no power,” said Aultman.

And yet, despite the circumstances, the home care nurses have defied the odds and have continued to provide the best care possible for their patients.

“Power has been restored to many of our patients as well as many of the roads cleared,” Aultman said. “We are thankful to the workers who are working so hard to make travel as safe as possible. We are able to get to the vast majority of our patients’ homes at this time. I couldn’t be prouder of our clinicians for how they ensured our patients had the care that they needed, many of whom were dealing with their own personal power issues.”

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.