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Don Crow: A Patient Story, Arcy Supportive Care

Don Crow

Arcy Supportive Care provides comprehensive care to patients at home by making house calls by an NP, or nurse practitioner. The NP coordinates the care with the patient’s existing doctor, specialists, and therapists. The same services received in a doctor’s office can be received at home. Tests and prescriptions can be ordered. Personalized attention from an experienced, dedicated provider, can make a significant difference.

Take, for instance, Don Crow, an Arcy Supportive Care patient. A Texas native, Don joined the Navy as a young man and after his service, he began a long career as a communication equipment installer with Lucent Technologies. Throughout his life, he was an avid fisherman enjoying many weekends at Possum Kingdom Lake, and enjoyed basketball and baseball.  Crow, as his friends called him, was an active man, a husband, father, and grandfather.

A series of health issues and crippling arthritis changed the way he lived his life in 2021. He experienced rapid weight loss and lost the ability to walk. After a hospital stay, he moved into a personal care home, where he did not leave his bed. He expressed feelings of grief relating to not being able to attend his granddaughter and daughter’s events. Don said he had always been very active but now was confined to a bed. He worked on accepting and adjusting to his new circumstances. His lifelong motto had been “Don’t quit,” and it continued to help him through the tough times.

During this time, Don became a patient of Arcy Hospice. A hospice nurse, aide, social worker, chaplain, and a dedicated volunteer started visiting him to provide care and companionship. Don remained bedbound, with chronic pain. His situation was serious but not terminal and after six months, he no longer qualified for hospice. He was discharged from hospice and referred to Arcy Supportive Care.

Don became an Arcy Supportive Care patient in April 2022. He began to receive visits from Nurse Practitioner Melissa George. Still bedridden and plagued by crippling arthritis but wanting to be more mobile, Melissa set up physical therapy visits for him. In their work together, the therapist suggested that he be evaluated for a custom power wheelchair. And after a long process, he received one.

For the first time in two years, in February 2023, Don was able to go outside. He made many trips buzzing around the block, enjoying his independence. In May, with his 60th wedding anniversary approaching, he and his wife made plans for a celebratory dinner at their favorite restaurant, Pappadeux’s. They rented a wheelchair-accessible bus and enjoyed their dinner together. As a bonus, the bus driver made a special trip past a lake popular with fishermen. It was a wonderful celebration of this milestone for them.

Don credits his improvements to the coordination of care he has received by Arcy Supportive Care. He says, “I just want to encourage others that if you have the right people on your team, great things can happen.”
Jimmie Stapleton

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