By Samantha Joseph

Staff writer

MARTIN COUNTY - His odometer tells a story that separates Jeffery Hulley from his former colleagues at Martin Memorial Hospital's emergency room.

He and his staff at Housecalls Express now drive about 200 miles per day, performing a unique service that has them bringing their expertise to patients across the Treasure Coast.

Instead of waiting for patients to come to him at the hospital's ER, Mr. Hulley and his staff make house calls to about 700 people each month.

"If they didn't have us coming to see them, a lot of our patients would have to be in a nursing home," he said.

For many Treasure Coast residents who have come to rely on Housecalls Express, the home visits have meant more than the ability to continue to live on their own.

On a recent Tuesday, for instance, one patient called reporting difficulty breathing.

Mr. Hulley quickly arrived at the home, ordered a chest x-ray, and learned that the patient suffered from pneumonia.

"We'll be able to get her on medication and get that cleared up, so she won't have to go to the hospital," he said.

It was the latest of example of the homecare PA's early intervention, preventing conditions from worsening for homebound patients.

It's also the idea behind his decision to leave his emergency room job and start Housecalls Express about nine years ago. At that time, the ER employee would routinely see patients come in with illnesses that had developed from minor, but untreated, conditions.

"They would come in by ambulance for what turned out to have started as a cold or infection," he said. "We thought there had to be a better way."

The solution was a sort of home-delivery program for frail, mostly elderly patients, who live alone and aren't fully able to care for themselves.

The constantly growing practice provides all the services that patients would get at a traditional doctor's office.

Staff can write prescriptions, for instance, or order medical tests, ultrasounds, serve as primary care providers, set up therapy sessions and arrange home delivery of medication. Clinicians also respond to minor emergencies, such as sprains and falls.

About 97 percent of their patients qualify for Medicare, but administrators say many insurers cover their services for homebound patients, including quadriplegics and accident survivors.

Home visits allow the clinicians a close-up view of patients' lives that would be impossible to gain from a brief office consultation.

Access to their medicine cabinets, for instance, makes it easier to review medications or tell if patients are taking them correctly.

With regular visits, clinicians and patients also develop a close bond that's rare in the emergency room, they say.

"The level of satisfaction is a lot higher," Mr. Hulley said.

Housecalls Express clinicians provide home visits from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays. They offer urgent-care as needed. For more information, call (772) 781-2207.