Travis Arendse

Director of Rehab – Alpha Home Health and Hospice

We’ve had a Home Health patient on and off service over the past few years. The patient is a retired veteran and uses a power wheelchair out in the community, but he relies on a manual wheelchair for safe transfers within his home. During the most recent episode with Alpha HH one of the brakes on the manual wheelchair had become loose and was preventing the patient from making transfers within his home. Travis contacted the VA and they were working on a new WC for the patient but estimated it would be several months until it would be in place. Understanding that this was a more immediate safety concern that would prevent the patient from being able to function in his home, Travis reached out to some of his industry contacts from his years of work in the community and was able to find a DME vendor that would provide a donated brake for the wheelchair. The DME vendor was able to work with the patient and caregiving staff to ensure the brake was installed promptly and properly. Without taking the extra steps and industry knowledge, this patient would have been at risk of injury or hospitalization. Travis made a huge impact on our patient and his overall outlook and even though the patient is often very short and curt, he offered his genuine gratitude when we made our next visit.