LET US GIVE THANKS!

This Thanksgiving, we the management of Walnut Medical Services want to give thanks to our patients for choosing Walnut Medical Services as their provider of choice to care for their health at home. Our patients continue to be the reason we are here, and we thank them for their loyalty and allowing us to provide service to our community since 1984.

We want to thank our referral sources from the doctor’s offices and the local hospitals that called us and said we have a patient, and they need your help with medical equipment in their home. The partnership between Walnut Medical Services and our referral sources is vital for the well-being of our community. We work hard everyday to be the best company we can be so when the referral sources call, they know Walnut is going to get the patient taken care of.

Finally, we want to thank our staff for going above and beyond to make our company the best it can be and provide our patients with the best care possible.

This starts at the top with our CEO Jodi Clark who provides the staff with all the necessary tools needed along with over 30 years of service to our company and the wealth of experience that she puts into use every day to help staff with questions or issues.

Our department supervisors or branch managers, Jess, Jodi, Joleen, Chris, guide their staff daily along with performing many of the same tasks that their staff does.

The customer service staff who deal daily with our patients and referral sources are the voices of our company! It is a very difficult, demanding job that includes answering phone calls, getting scripts, checking insurance to make sure the patients’ needs are met. They give their all every day. Thank you, Jeanie, Jason, Denise, Christy, Bonnie, Barb, Jen, and Linda for all you do for our patients.

The marketing department, which includes recent college marketing graduate Drew doing our website, social media and email marketing campaigns and working to build our presence in those platforms. John, who is our sales guy, hits the road daily visiting our referral sources and hospitals checking to make sure their needs are met and questions answered and updating them on new products and services we have available. He also does a great job with not just selling stair lifts for patients, but he still gets his hands dirty and does the installs and service on the stair lifts.

The in-house billing staff, which is very uncommon in the DME world, is led by Jodi A. Her promotion to Billing Manager has helped our billers Jen, Patty, and Sierra reach even higher levels of performance while still doing her own billing of insurances. Jen, Patty and Sierra provide years of experience and help patients with questions on their bill and most importantly get us paid for the services we provide. This is a very challenging job with all the insurances we carry. Thank you!

Diane works tirelessly to post all the money the billing staff brings in so paychecks and invoices can be paid! The accounts payable and your fellow employees thank you!

Chris leads Jenny and Alison in our respiratory department who work super hard to get patients their cpap units and supplies. This is a never-ending job, but our patients get a great night’s sleep because of you, and we thank you!

 Thank you to Stan and Ed who clean and repair our equipment and concentrators, so they are ready for the next patient. It is a “dirty” job, (get it?) but someone must do it. Thank you, guys!

The purchasing manager Gary keeps the inventory flowing in, so it can go out to our patients as soon as they need it. Fed Ex, UPS, Pitt-Ohio and USPS are all good friends of Gary!

The delivery staff are the face of our company. They are on the road every day, in all kinds of weather, environments and many times out well after closing time to meet our patient’s needs. They roast in the summer, freeze in the winter! Thank you, Jeff, John, Ryan, Jimmy, Paul and Casey, for all your heavy lifting, in home patient care, good driving skills and representing our company so well that when you leave the patient’s home, they want to tell everyone they know, how great you and Walnut were. Thank you!

In closing, we thank you all for everything you do that has allowed us to be the BEST home medical equipment company around for the last 40 years and for many years to come!

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Walnut Medical Services!

Independence Day—What does it mean in the world of home medical equipment?

July 4th is Independence Day for our country.

Having our independence as a country is something that every one of us should be proud of. It allows us the freedom to do the things we love.

Independence is also a really important factor in the home medical equipment world. Walnut Medical Services has been providing our patients with the ability to maintain some or all their independence for the last 40 years.

We opened in 1984 with a description under our name…………“Caring for your health at home”.

Here we are 40 years later still holding on to that goal.

Caring for patients’ health at home allows our patients the ability to maintain their independence and stay in their home for as long as possible.

We have a variety of products that can help accomplish that goal for our patients.

We carry HandiCare stairlifts, which allow patients to move from one floor to another safely. Stairlifts really give our patients the independence they deserve in their home!

We are a proud dealer of Golden Technology lift chairs. Lift chairs also provide patients with independence, because it allows them to use the lift chair to get up and down easily and safely without the assistance of others. Talk about maintaining your independence!

Hospital beds are a vital piece of equipment that allows our patients to remain at home and avoid lengthy hospital stays and allow them to recover in the comfort of their home.

Home oxygen equipment allows patients to breathe easier, be more active and on the go without having to slow down because they are short of breath. Oxygen therapy is a wonderful way to keep your independence and we carry a couple different models of portable oxygen units to keep you going.

Rollators, walkers, bath benches and bedside commodes are a few more items that help promote a person’s independence and ability to stay in their home for as long as possible when they are dealing with physical limitations, either short term or long term.

Being independent and being in your own home is very important for a person’s mental wellbeing, and nothing can replace the comfort of home.

So, this 4th of July, celebrate our country’s independence, but also if you are healthy enough that you do not need any of this kind of equipment at this point in your life, celebrate that independence.

Unfortunately, there are many people who are dealing with difficult health issues and Walnut Medical Services is proud and honored to help care for their health at home and maintain their independence for as long as possible.

We here at Walnut Medical Services wish you a Happy and Safe 4th of July!

Our offices will be closed on July 4th, but we will reopen July 5th at 8:00 am.

If you are experiencing an oxygen equipment emergency, please call 800-233-0915 and our on-call staff member will assist you.

Why is Home Medical Equipment important to me?

Because it changed my life and took me on a journey that continues today.

I started working in the home medical equipment business on August 12, 1996, at Walnut Medical Services. Twenty-eight years later I am still here, and little did I know how much this industry would impact not only my professional life, but my personal and family as well.

I was 23 years old back in 1996 when I got hired and was trying to find my way in life. I applied at Walnut for the position of oxygen tank filler. Definitely not the most glamorous position you could start at but it was a start and also an important position. Many people do not realize oxygen is a drug that is regulated by the FDA. We cannot set a patient up on oxygen or pick it up without a written order from a doctor. Anytime the FDA is involved with a product, the process has to be done correctly.

I held that position for a few months and got moved into a Delivery Tech position. I loved it. You get to be on the road, going into patients’ homes and providing them with equipment that can be the difference between having to go to a nursing home or hospital for extended periods of time or being able to go or stay in their own home. There is a comfort at home that cannot be replaced, especially when you are sick or dealing with a health crisis. Delivering oxygen to patients and seeing how they can go from getting out of the hospital not sure of where life is going to go for them now, to seeing them every week with more portable tanks to go out on the town and not let their health issues stop them from living!

After 7 years of being a Delivery Tech, I got promoted to Delivery Supervisor in 2003. That was a new challenge, but one that I knew I could handle because I knew all the challenges of being a Delivery Tech and now had the ability to change and improve processes that would not only benefit my delivery staff, Walnut as a company but most importantly our patients.

Personally, family health issues entered my life in 2010 when my younger brother was dealing with health issues that ultimately claimed his life in 2010 at the age of 35. He needed home oxygen to help him breathe during his battle. My Grandmother lived to be 97 years old, and the last few years of her life were spent in a hospital bed. The easy part was setting up the bed, the hard part was picking it up after she passed. My Father dealt with diabetes and heart issues and ended losing both his legs, having heart surgery, and needing the full range of home medical equipment we could provide — hospital bed, oxygen, wheelchair, power wheelchair, transfer board and he even had a reacher to pick up his remote control. My Mother also required a bed, low air loss mattress and oxygen before she passed. Having so many people in my family that needed all of this equipment gives me a personal perspective of how important this equipment is for anyone who uses it.

I rely on that personal experience, and I use it along with my professional experience to do my very best for the patients we service and provide the comfort of the home to.

Covid-19 provided all of us with a challenge never seen before and home medical equipment companies across the country showed just how valuable we are to the health care industry. We provided vital services to hospitals who had no room for patients. We were a lifeline to send people home with oxygen to help ease some of their burden. Our supplies were in short supply, our staff was overloaded, our spirits were bent but not broken but we came to work every single day. In the darkest days of the pandemic, our staff at Walnut Medical were rockstars and shined brighter than ever! The pride that we had in our staff during that period still shines brightly today.

As I sit here in my office, now the Daily Operations Coordinator of Walnut Medical Services as we are celebrating our 40th year caring for our community’s health at home, I reflect on how I started as a young kid not knowing how this job would go and I think of what I have witnessed and been a part of. It gives me pride. I have lost family, friends, coworkers, and patients we care about and it is hard.

However, I love coming to work every day and being a part of this amazing staff who cares for our community and the patients who we help. I get to work with people who are not only my coworkers but my closest friends.

That is why home medical equipment is important to me and remember to ASK FOR WALNUT!

Bob Pfeil

Daily Operations Coordinator

National Heart Month

February is National Heart Month and Walnut Medical Services wants to encourage our customers and staff to make our hearts stronger not only physically by eating healthy, get active, maintain a healthy weight, quit smoking, control blood pressure and cholesterol and manage your stress.

February is also the month of love with Valentine’s Day on February 14th. Please share love and understanding with each other whether it is strangers, family members, friends or co-workers, be the reason someone smiles this month!

Walnut Medial Services also loves to provide new products that will help our patients live a better life. We are excited about a new product we are going to be providing to our community. We will now carry the Dexcom G7 CGM units for diabetic glucose monitoring. What is a CGM you may ask? It is Continuous Glucose Monitoring. These devices will change how a person with diabetes monitors and cares for their blood sugar levels by providing real time continuous readings of what your blood sugar levels are. It is a game changer in diabetic care and health.

Stay tuned for more information on this exciting new product Walnut Medical Services is offering!

Remember to make your heart happy both physically and emotionally during this years National Heart Month and spread the love to others to make their heart happy this month as well. #sharethelove

40 Years in business. Look how far we have come!

Walnut Medical Services started out as a small home medical equipment company located at 504 Main St. in Downtown Johnstown back in 1984. The intention was to provide patients with quality equipment and most importantly quality service and care to allow them to be in the comfort of their own home during their health battles. This still rings true today. Thanks to the hard working and dedicated staff that started the company and the staff members who have come and gone over the last 40 years who built the foundation for service to our patients, we are still here doing our best at caring for your health at home.

Walnut Medical has changed a lot of the last 40 years. We moved to 226 Main St. in Downtown Johnstown in 1994 and the main office is still located there today. We opened branch offices in Bedford and Richland that are still open today to serve patients in those areas. We have had offices in Indiana, Lewistown, Boswell, Ebensburg, and Windber.

The industry has changed a lot over the last 40 years. In the last 10 years across the nation there is 60% less home care companies like Walnut Medical Services. We had to adapt and change over the years to meet the challenges that have come our way. What many do not realize is we cannot set our prices, most of our business is insurance based and what we get paid is set by Medicare guidelines and what other insurances decide to pay. We have found a way with the help of strong, smart leadership at the top, to the dedicated staff who built our quality reputation in the community, with hospitals and other referral sources.

The Covid-19 pandemic challenged our staff in ways never seen before in history. The staff worked day and night getting oxygen equipment to patients in and out of the hospital. We NEVER closed the doors to our patients not for even one day! The phones were always answered by a real staff person and we came together as a company like never before.

The dedication and love for the job that our staff has, shows in the longevity many of them have:

Purchasing Manager 35 years CEO 33 years Accounts Receivable 30 years

Daily Operations Coordinator 28 years Branch Manager 20 years Sales Manager 20 years

Head of Respiratory 15 years Billing Manager 15 years Service tech 20 years

Numerous billing, CSR and delivery staff who have been here for 10 to 20 years providing service to our patients.

You will have a hard time finding another homecare company anywhere with more experience than Walnut Medical Services.

Most importantly we are here celebrating our 4oth year because of our staff, patients, their families and friends, who “ASK 4 Walnut” when at the hospital or doctors office. We would not be here without you.

Thank you to all of you and we look forward serving the people our West Central PA for another 40 years!

Stair Lifts and you!

People may wonder, do I need a stair lift?

There are many people that could benefit from having a stair lift in their home.

Stair lifts are a vital part of maintaining independence for aging adults or people with limited mobility issues. This allows them to stay in their own home longer.

There are big benefits to having a stair lift in your home.

*Independence—Getting up and down stairs can be difficult. Stair lifts allow people to access other areas of the home that they may not have been able to use any longer, like upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms.

*Safety—They reduce the risk of injury by providing a safer way to go from one floor to another.

*Peace of mind—It provides family members confidence that their loved one can safely move from one floor to the next.

*Home—Stair lifts allow a person to stay in their home and avoid the need to relocate or move to an assisted living center.

Walnut Medical Services has been serving West-Central PA with stair lifts for 15 years.

For a free evaluation and estimate of which kind of stair lift would fit your needs call John at 814-533-9994.

This holiday season give a loved one the gift of independence!

Walnut Wisdom: Do I need a CPAP

How do I know if I need a CPAP:

The most common symptoms related to obstructive and central sleep apneas and the need for a CPAP are:

Loud snoring-Episodes in which you stop breathing during sleep-Gasping for air during sleep-Awakening with a dry mouth-Morning headache-Difficulty staying asleep (Insomnia)-Excessive daytime sleepiness-Difficulty paying attention while awake-Irritability.

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, speak to your doctor about sleep apnea and see if the use of a CPAP can improve your health.

Walnut Medical Services has a Certified Respiratory Therapist on staff to setup your CPAP, fit you with a mask that works best for you and answer any questions you may have about sleep apnea and CPAP’s.

Remember to ASK 4 WALNUT for your CPAP, CPAP supplies and any other home medical equipment you may need.

Walnut Medical Services is THANKFUL to be able to care for your health at home, from our door to your door since 1984!

Have a wonderful month of Thanksgiving!

Check back in December for another Walnut Wisdom Blog!