Traveling for your IV infusions?

Good news, Freestone Medical Center (FMC) now offers IV infusions in a variety of treatments.

What exactly is an IV infusion?
Great question.

Sometimes a person needs medication given to them via an IV instead of orally.

Reasons vary from intolerance of the oral medication to the inability to take something via the patient’s mouth.

This is called systematic treatment, the using of an IV to introduce the medicine into the body as opposed to any other processes.

It can be a variety of types of medication, and used for many different types of illnesses.

The one that most people are familiar with is IV antibiotics, which can treat cellulitis, a skin infection, Osteomyelitis, a bone infection, or if a person cannot simply tolerate an oral antibiotic.

People who suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis or Psoriatic Arthritis also use IV infusions to help with treatment.

Immune disorders, iron treatments, and many other treatments are available; Chemotherapy is not included due to how specific the treatment is for each individual.

Why the new option at FMC is so important

People travel to Waco, Waxahachie, College Station or further once or twice a day for IV infusions.

Nicki Hagen, RN BSN, Chief Nursing Officer and Compliance Officer says that offering this locally, “Helps us keep our community healthy and at home.”

When people have to travel long distance on a frequent basis, treatment compliance drops in rate. The farther the distance the lower the rate of compliance.

Compliance means completing your doctor’s orders, such as finishing all your prescribed antibiotics.

For example, if you are supposed to have fourteen days of IV infusions and you stopped after seven, you were not compliant.

Oral medication sees about a 50% compliancy, but rural clinics and hospitals tend to have a much higher rate, as high as 90%.

This is the same treatment a person would receive at such a place as Baylor. As FMC CEO John Yeary explains, this service is, “Bringing high tech service to the local community.”

Community Infusion Solutions

FMC partnered with Community Infusion Solutions (CIS) to bring this extraordinary option to Freestone County residents.

CIS was founded by CEO Mitchell Berenson in 2008 after a realization was made that IV Infusion was needed in the rural parts of America.

Small town USA is the company’s focus, and it reflects through the companies ethics and their way of handling business.

Berenson is so passionate about his business that he came in person to pitch the business to FMC. That is right, a CEO that is so involved that he does the pitches himself.

That level of involvement fits in perfectly with the Freestone County community mindset.

The first hospital to partner with is in Brookhaven, Mississippi in 2009, and has now expanded to around forty hospitals across the rural portions of the nation.

FMC’s IV Infusion Suite

A patient’s comfort is important during their IV infusion treatment, and FMC has taken measures to assure they receive it.

Currently the room has two comfortable recliners to accommodate two patients at a time, although FMC has plans to expand if necessary.

A patient can recline back all the way to take a nap while receiving their treatments, plus they can plug their phones in to charge.

A TV hangs for the patients to enjoy if they like, as well.

Hagen remarks, “CIS has been a godsend; not just for this facility, but this community.”

The new service began on Thursday, October 1, 2020, welcoming their first patient within days. Seven more clients were in the works at the time of the interview.

Anyone who is interested in receiving IV infusions at Freestone Medical Center should call the care manager, Norma Chairez, at 903-389-0935.

Chairez can help try to get an order moved for local infusions at FMC, and much more.

If you are currently traveling out of town for treatment, or should be, and want to be closer to home give her a call.