Nurse helps seniors stay in their homes

Maureen Bidasolo, RN, BSN, is a nurse who knows firsthand the confusion that patients and families face in trying to coordinate care for a loved one with a variety of health issues. She worked as the nurse/counselor at Bridges Academy for several years and also aided her ailing father-in-law in getting the care he needed.

Bidasolo recently launched her business, Integrated Care, to help clients understand the issues they are facing and the choices they have. "I advocate for patients so families can be families," she said.

Her goal is to enable a patient, usually a senior with multiple health care needs, to stay at home as long as possible. Sometimes all that's required is a caregiver for a few hours a week. And sometimes Bidasolo accompanies her clients on doctor visits, in order to hear exactly what questions are asked and how they are answered.

A complimentary consultation with Bidasolo enables her to assess what the most important needs are. If a client signs on for Integrated Care services, the initial commitment is for three months and then the situation is reevaluated. Payments are on a sliding scale, depending on what services are required. These include phone calls to care providers, research of diagnoses and searching for alternative providers if necessary. She coordinates a team approach to finding and selecting care.

Bidasolo understands the health care system after working in it her entire career. She received her nursing degree, with a minor in psychology, in 1973 from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn. In those days nurses went immediately to hospitals, and Bidasolo worked for many years in Omaha, ending up in neo-natal intensive care.

Her next career move was also in Omaha, at Methodist Hospital, teaching maternity nursing and leadership. A later stint selling specialty hospital beds enabled her to combine her nursing and teaching skills as she taught nurses how to use the beds. At that time she learned how to create a team approach to patient care, working with the doctors who purchased the beds and the nurses tending patients.

A move to Kansas City in the early 1990s meant a move into the corporate world, working for a workers' compensation clinic. Her job involved convincing corporations of the importance of preventative care.

"I started seeing the community becoming aware that wellness programs were more effective than rehabilitation programs," she said.

The wellness approach was another avenue to create teamwork.

By 1997, Bidasolo moved to the Sisters area to be with her soon-to-be husband, Mike. She began working at Bridges Academy where she started thinking about the concept of Integrated Care. She became familiar with many care providers in Deschutes County during that time and while she cared for her father-in-law.

To schedule an Integrated Care consultation, contact Maureen Bidasolo at 541-410-5300.