HomeCare Announces 2006 HomeCaring Awards™

ATLANTA–In an awards presentation held last week during
Medtrade, HomeCare magazine presented its 2006 HomeCaring
Awards™ to Nagle Bridwell of Newton Square, Pa.-based
Ultimate Resource; Bonnie Laster, a respiratory care practitioner
and assistant manager of Rowan Medical Facilities in Salisbury, N.
C.; and Dan Meuser, president of Exeter, Pa.-based Pride USA.

The winners were chosen from nominations sent in by the
magazine’s readers and judged by a panel of seven industry
professionals.

With a long career in HME as one of the co-founders of The Med
Group, Nagle Bridwell remembers naming the Sip ‘n Puff, and he also
remembers when bringing someone home with a ventilator or a
complicated seating system was not possible–but he did it anyway.
Bridwell was the founder of the Pennsylvania Association of Medical
Suppliers and also helped in forming the New Jersey Association of
Medical Equipment Suppliers. On the national front, he was one of
the founders of NADMAC, a forerunner to NAMES and AAHomecare.

During an ice storm in 2002, 185 of Rowan Medical’s oxygen
patients were left without electricity–for five days–but due to
Bonnie Laster’s preparation and patient care, there was not a
single emergency incident for those patients. Laster has also
developed a blueprint for oxygen patient education, and the
procedures, forms and follow-up patient checklist that she put in
place for Rowan have been published by JCAHO.

Dan Meuser has been involved with Pride in an official capacity
for more than 18 years, but it is his active leadership and
extensive educational efforts with both CMS and Congress that
caught the judges’ attention this year. Meuser’s vocal support of
the power mobility sector in lobbying efforts with CMS helped lead
to the development of more functional coverage criteria for
mobility assistive equipment. He has also worked to garner support
in Congress for appropriate implementation of the new PMD codes and
fee schedules and for the industry’s Hobson-Tanner bill, which
would ease the effects of competitive bidding.

“HomeCare is proud to acknowledge the tireless efforts
of those who further the goals of the industry in serving the
nation’s home-based patients,” said Editor-in-Chief Gail Walker.
“The HomeCaring Awards are only a small token in recognizing the
contributions of so many individuals whose unwavering service and
commitment has distinguished them at the highest level.”

The awards were presented at a Tuesday afternoon ceremony at the
Georgia World Congress Center by emcee Jack Evans of Malibu,
Calif.-based Global Media Marketing.

The HME Excellence Awards, also presented at the ceremony by
HME News, recognized Erie, Pa.-based Blackburn’s, Memphis,
Tenn.-based Methodist Alliance Home Medical Equipment and Lebanon,
N.H.-based Keene Medical Products as respective winners in the
rehab, HME and respiratory categories. First runners-up in those
categories included Hudson Home Health Care, Newington, Conn.;
Valley Home Care, Winchester, Va.; and CressCare Medical,
Harrisburg, Pa. Second runners-up were Inland Medical & Rehab,
Spokane, Wash.; Central Medical Equipment, Harrisburg, Pa.; and
Resp-I-Care, Kingsport, Tenn.

Look for profiles of the 2006 HomeCaring Award™
recipients in upcoming issues of HomeCare
magazine.