A major illness can turn your life upside down. The professionals in the Amberwell Health Social Services department can connect you and your family with resources in the community to meet your needs beyond medical treatment. We will provide you comfort, support and guidance when you need it most. Our job starts the day you are admitted for care, when we begin to evaluate what services or assistance you may need while you are with us and after you return home.
Here are some of the ways we can help you:
- Counsel and lend emotional support to assist with adjustment to illness, injury, or loss
Explain things you don't understand using terms familiar to you - Educate about and assist with Advance Directives (i.e. Living Will, Durable Power or Attorney for Health Care, Outside DNR orders, Health Care Directions)
- Notify your minister that you have been admitted for care or arrange for a volunteer chaplain to visit you
- Make referrals to support groups
- Assist with filling out applications for Medicaid or Uncompensated Care
- Arrange for services or equipment you will need to return home safely
- Put you in touch with outside agencies or organizations that provide services you may need. For example:
- Northeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging
- Project Concern for Meals on Wheels and transportation
- NEKCAP (Northeast Kansas Community Action Program)
- Head Start
- Infants and Toddlers
- Parents as Teachers
- WIC (Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program)
- Salvation Army
- NEK Community Mental Health and Guidance Center
- All Faith Counseling Center
- Vocational Rehabilitation
- Achievement Services (Community Developmental Disability Organization)
- Veteran's Administration
- Kansas SRS (Social and Rehabilitation Services)
- DoVES (domestic violence services)
- HCBS contractors (organizations that help arrange services at home to maintain independence)
- Prescription Drug Program
- Assist Living and Long Term Care Facilities
- Home Health and Hospice Agencies
- Housing Agencies
- Kansas Legal Aid
- Drug and Alcohol Evaluation and Treatment
- DME companies (Durable Medical Equipment)
Grief Support Group
Have you lost someone close?
Have you felt overwhelmed with loss?
Want to discover ways to work through your grief?
You may benefit from grief support services for Amberwell Health. We offer a four session series two times a year in the spring and the fall at our Amberwell Atchison location.
In the sessions you will…
- Learn what is normal and what emotions you might expect when someone you love dies.
- Learn how to cope with the difficult feelings surrounding and following the death of someone close.
- Receive emotional support from others who have lost loved ones.
- Help others in the group by listening to their stories and sharing yours.
The sessions are provided by Amberwell Health as a community service and there is no charge to attend.
Spiritual Care Program
Amberwell Health believes that the spiritual and emotional well being of patients is an important aspect of physical healing. We recognize that our local pastors are important providers of this care. Because not all of our patients have a local pastor available, we've established the Spiritual Care program.
Our Spiritual Care program provides spiritual care to our patients, their families, and Amberwell Health employees. Local professional ministers participate as volunteers as part of their service to the larger community. We offer supportive listening, prayer, anointing, baptism, and communion in times of uncertainty, discomfort, or crisis. Our ministers respect each patient's own spirituality and religious preference. We're here to help you.
For more information please contact Aggie Asher, Manager of Social Services at aasher@atchhosp.org or 913-360-5597.
Helpful Websites
- http://alz.org/index.asp
This is the site for the Alzheimer's Association. It has information related to caring for dementia patients, research into Alzheimer's, and basic information about the disease. - https://www.atchisoncountyks.org/Directory.aspx?did=20
This is the Atchison County Health Department. - http://www.theguidance-ctr.org/services.htm
This is The Guidance Center. They have services for outpatient counseling and substance abuse treatment. - https://www.kdads.ks.gov/commissions/aging
This is the website for the Aging and Disability Resource Center. Here you can find information about agencies and programs to assist with problems associated with aging and disability. - https://www.kancare.ks.gov/consumers/apply-for-kancare
This website gives you information about Medicaid health insurance and allows you to apply online. You can also obtain a paper application here. - http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/index
American Cancer Society. - http://www.medicare.gov
Everything you need to know about Medicare. - http://www.practicalbioethics.org/resources/caring-conversations#form
This website explains advance directives like Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, living wills, and Health Care Directions. You can also download forms here.
