Mountaintop Medicine from Estes Park Health: EPH social workers help patients find help for their medical needs

When Estes Park Health decided to close its home health and in-home hospice department in December of 2023, the hospital’s medical social workers stepped in to help patients and their families find the help they need.

“I would say the number of people we help has increased,” noted EPH Chief Nursing Officer Pat Samples. “The reality is every person’s journey is different. Part of our vision here is to meet every patient and family where they are, utilize the resources available to them in the best ways we can considering their situation and what other resources they have outside their current situation. The commitment we’ve made with two full-time social workers is they take phone calls from the community, they see patients in the emergency room, in the inpatient arena, as well as partner with our clinic physicians in our outpatient clinic to address the needs that arise for all our Estes Park patients.”

Nancy Bell is one of two medical social workers on staff full time at EPH.

“We are here to help,” Bell emphasized. “We want to help. We take this very seriously and really want you to know what the options are, what is available, how we can help, and just to talk it through with you. For example, even if your loved one who is dying doesn’t come to the hospital to die, that’s not what this is about. I want to be sure that you know what’s available, if you need the hospital in your situation, how that can work, or if your goal is something else like staying at home how it could be possible to support that. We really want you to know what the options are, what is available, how we can help, and just to talk it through with you.”

Retiree Robin Polley lives in Estes Park. She says a social worker was her “backbone” when she needed help. Her husband was in the hospital during the last days of his COPD illness.

“It was a hard time for me,” Polley recalled. “She has helped me stay stable because my husband passed away in ’23. We’ve known each other for four years. Right now, she is trying to help me find a place to live. I live at the Olympus Lodge on Big Thompson Avenue. She’s helping me try and get into a senior living facility somewhere. I really needed her, and she really helped me greatly during the difficult time I was going through. She helps me in many more ways. She’s not just a social worker. I feel like she’s a good friend.”

Polley said the people at Estes Park Health have been very caring in helping direct her to the resources she needs.

As a nurse for 37 years, Samples explained social workers offer a unique component to hospital services free of charge.

“They have an amazing ability to manage and coach and teach each individual person based on their needs and their resources from a psycho-social perspective and can find resources and support like nobody else,” Samples stressed. “They are a treasured gem in a hospital. They’re difficult to find. Once you find them, you keep them because they do amazing work for our patients and community.”

Doris Alberts of Estes Park relied on EPH’s social work staff when her mother passed away earlier this year.

“I went to visit my mother early in the morning and take her to breakfast,” Alberts said. “I entered her apartment, and she was lying on the floor near her bed. Her looks and her inability to talk and use her mouth to swallow and her throat, I could tell she had had a major stroke. So, I called emergency services, and they came and picked her up and I drove separately to the emergency room to follow them over there.”

When Alberts arrived at EPH, social worker Bell was one of the staff available to her.

“She was so helpful in my time of trouble,” she noted. “I was so upset and tearful. She calmed me down and told me what was going to happen since she communicates well with the other medical people. I am so thankful for her. This is not the first experience I’ve had with her and the skills that she has to offer. I’m so grateful to her and she seems like an old friend because she’s always been there.”

Bell had helped Alberts when her father passed away in 2015. She recalled how Bell called her up a few days after his passing to check on her.

“She did that this time when my mother died,” Alberts said. “I talked to her on the phone even though I was crying. I’m sure she couldn’t understand half of what I said. It was so important to have somebody to talk to who knew mom and understood how much I felt about my mom. My mom was my best friend as well as my mother. We were very close. Nancy knew this from experience with our family in the past years. She was so supportive and tried to keep me informed. She could interpret for me some of the things the doctors were intending. Nancy was there to explain what was going on. It was great to have her with me. I enjoyed her support. I felt better about myself. With her around helping me, I wasn’t so scared.”

To reach EPH social worker Nancy Bell, call (970) 577-4492 or email her at nbell@eph.org.

Estes Park Health made the decision to close home health care, private duty care, and hospice at the end of 2023 for several reasons. One of the biggest challenges for EPH was volume because Estes Park is a small community. As the regulations for hospice and home health care got tighter, it was hard for EPH to meet those regulations and be able to support the program financially without costing Estes Park Health millions of dollars.

For qualified medical social workers to help you navigate through a medical/social issue, think Estes Park Health. Mountaintop Medicine, Quality Care.