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Central DuPage Hospital
Public Relations
Amy Jo Steinbruecker
630-933-5117

CDH HomeCare Physicians
50,000 Patient Visit Marks Milestone in Care  

WINFIELD, Ill. , October 31, 2006 – HomeCare Physicians ( HCP ) of Wheaton brought health care home in a big way on Friday, October 30. The practice celebrated their 50,000^th home visit, treating elderly and disabled patients who often cannot get to a physician’s office on their own without great difficulty.  

“Our home office is in Wheaton ,” says Founder and Medical Director Dr. Tom Cornwell. “However, our bedside service covers 300 square miles.” HCP doctors daily travel throughout Central DuPage Hospital ’s neighborhood, to treat homebound patients and save them costly and unnecessary ambulance trips, emergency department visits, hospitalizations and premature nursing home placement.  

“The average age of our patient is eighty, but we do have some younger homebound patients. Most of them have neuromuscular conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) or spinal injuries,” says Dr. Cornwell. “The patient needs are many, and we have been able to reach a wide span of ages, conditions and geography, thanks to support from Central DuPage Hospital and the hospital’s Auxiliary.”  

HomeCare Physicians is a member of Central DuPage Physician Group, a primary care physician organization affiliated with Central DuPage Hospital.

Dr. Cornwell has personally made nearly 20,000 house calls to more than 3,000 homebound patients. Cornwell’s partner in the practice, Dr. Paul Chiang, MD, MS, has been with HCP since August 2000 and has made more than 10,000 house calls.  Nurse Practitioner Ancy Zacharia, RN, MSN , GNP, joined the team in December 1999 and has made nearly 8,000 house calls.  

HCP physicians have received both local and national recognition for innovation and commitment to the homebound and elderly patient populations of the greater Chicago area.

For more information about HomeCare Physicians, visit www.homecarephysicians.org or call 630-933-4234 (630-933-4CDH).

About HCP
The mission of HCP is to provide quality primary care to the homebound to improve their quality of life and the lives of their caregivers. This care reduces healthcare costs by preventing unnecessary ambulance trips, emergency department visits, hospitalizations and nursing home placements.  HomeCare Physicians’ territory includes all of DuPage County and bordering communities. HCP has made over 50,000 house calls to more than 4,000 homebound patients.

About Central DuPage Hospital

Central DuPage Hospital is a nationally recognized 361-bed facility located in Winfield , Ill. , a suburb west of Chicago . It is a leading center for surgical innovations and was one of the first institutions in the nation to offer minimally invasive heart surgery, robotic-assisted surgery, minimally invasive spine surgery with bio-engineered bone protein and was the first Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in DuPage County . A partnership with Children’s Memorial Hospital (www.CMHatCDH.org) provides children in the suburbs west of Chicago access to the pediatric and neonatal specialists of Children’s Memorial.

In 2005, Central DuPage Hospital was named one of the Top 100 Cardiovascular Hospitals in the country by Solucient, a nationally respected resource for evaluating health care performance. It has also been nationally recognized by HealthGrades for the quality of its Stroke Care and Patient Safety.

 
The hospital is an interdependent network of healthcare organizations and services, including convenient care centers, occupational health services and a full range of options for senior living, home health and hospice care.