Brochure Copy
Brochure copy written by Richard Stewart for Vanguard Home Medical Equipment.
Vanguard Home Medical Equipment
Largest Independently Owned Provider
of Home Health Care Equipment, Systems
and Services in Southeastern New England Respiratory equipment and services
Asthma management program
Adaptive wheelchairs and seating systems
Patient room equipment
Ostomy and incontinent suppliesServing 40,000 Satisfied Clients and Professional Business Partners
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Inside Vanguard Home Medical Equipment
Doing well by doing good. That's been our approach to the business
of providing home medical equipment solutions and care-giver support
since 1987. From the beginning we have been committed to improving
the quality of life for patients at home through service excellence and
professionalism.Today our staff numbers more than 85, and we've grown into the largest
independent company of our kind in Southeastern New England, a
$10-million-plus business. Our equipment comes with individualized,
hands-on instruction. Our trained technicians keep it maintained and
operating properly. And our experienced, knowledgeable professionals
are on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to handle equipment
emergencies.Referrals by satisfied patients, their families, physicians, hospital discharge
planners and other referring sources have helped in our expansion. We
have served more than 40,000 patients in Rhode Island, Massachusetts
and Connecticut from our headquarters in Warwick, R.I. Our commitment
to quality service through sound management practices and personalized
attention to patient needs remains as strong today as ever. In fact, our
determination to do good by our customers is the driving force behind
Vanguard Home Medical Equipment.We are one of the only independent providers of clinical respiratory
services, equipment management and rehab technology services in Rhode
Island to be accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of
Healthcare Organizations. That along with the positive feedback we
receive from clients, healthcare personnel, managed care organizations
and other business partners makes us very proud. We are here to serve.Joseph R. Maloney, CEO
Vanguard Home Medical Equipment (logo)
Corporate Offices:
155 Jefferson Blvd.
Warwick, RI 02888
Tel. 401-468-1300 or 800-696-3000
E-mail: vhme@aol.com
Member of New England Medical Equipment Dealers Association
and R.I. Partnership for Home Care.---
(Sidebar) OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS WRITEDear Vanguard Home Medical Equipment:
I want you to know how very much we have appreciated all the extras
Vanguard Home Medical Equipment has done for us over the past years.
If we had need for a special item, you made every effort to supply us
with it. If we were in doubt about what to order, your expertise surfaced
and you resolved the problem for us in the most practical manner. The
mattress you recommended made my mother's last days so very comfortable.Your pleasant manner at all times and your follow-through on all our
requests was a joy to us during many of our troubled times. Again, my sister
and I want to say that you should be commended for a job well done....
---Products and Services for Home Health Care
Vanguard offers one-stop shopping for home medical equipment and
supplies. We stock a broad range of home healthcare aids and equipment
for sale, rental and lease. Product lines include wheelchairs B standard and
customized, powered and manual B hospital beds, rehabilitation equipment,
pediatric equipment, bathroom and safety aids, respiratory equipment,
wound-care products, ostomy supplies and other patient room aids and
materials. We carry a wide selection of durable walkers, canes and
crutches, scooters, carts, seat lift chairs, geriatric chairs and tub and s
tairway lifts all designed to increase patients' independence and comfort.But Vanguard is much more than just equipment and supplies. We're
service providers first. We offer oxygen and respiratory services, an
asthma management program, and services for pediatric clients and
others requiring specialized assistance. We offer peace of mind for
care-givers. We see to it that patients have everything they need upon
discharge from hospital and emergency rooms. In fact, our thoroughness
and ability to respond quickly can expedite discharge.Our protocols for service outperform most other providers. We routinely
attend discharge planning meetings for clinically and problem-prone patients
and provide extensive training before and after discharge. We have
developed a clinical procedure manual on training and coordinating patient
care. In the home, equipment set-up, personalized fittings, and hands-on
instruction are all part of the service customers can count on from Vanguard
Home Medical Equipment.
(Sidebar) OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS WRITE
Dear Vanguard Home Medical Equipment:
Thank you for the community spirit you have shown by donating the use of
a wheelchair to a woman from Gloucester who was in a serious automobile
accident. We at the Salvation Army appreciate your generosity and please
know that this generosity will not go unrewarded...---
Our People Skilled and Dedicated Professionals
Experience counts in our business. Using medical equipment can be a
challenge to untrained care-givers and homebound patients suffering from
injury or illness. They depend on Vanguard Home Medical Equipment
personnel to provide complete instruction in the use of the equipment and to
answer any questions. For children with the risk of sleep apnea, we teach
family members CPR and how to read an apnea monitor. We make sure
they understand how to handle breathing problems.At the time of delivery, we make sure the equipment is working properly,
the fit is right, and the patient understands how to utilize the equipment in
a correct and safe manner. Our thoroughness has earned us a reputation
with the area's emergency room personnel and other healthcare providers.
They call us with their most difficult cases. Our staff members work closely
with inpatient review nurses and discharge planners, who have come to
respect Vanguard for the quality of care we provide.We have highly experienced people in every department. Our operations
manager has more than 30 years in the business, and many of our managers
also have decades of experience. In our hiring, we look for the right
combination of experience and work skills. We provide training and a
professional setting in which to work. That accounts for our low turnover
rate. Supervisors fully certify staff in all aspects of their jobs.From our maintenance and delivery technicians, customer services coor-
dinators and our Medicare, Medicaid and insurance experts to our clinicians
and top managers, you can count on dealing with well-trained, skilled and
experienced people at Vanguard Home Medical Equipment people who
care enough to do their best.
(Sidebar) OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS WRITE
Dear Vanguard Home Medical Equipment:
Thank you for your efforts in obtaining the donated rehabilitation equipment
for the department here at the Visiting Nurses Association of R.I. This
represents a considerable cost savings for us that can be passed along to
other deficient areas. You have been most helpful in expediting this process
very quickly. I appreciate your interest in providing such good service...---
Client Satisfaction and Continuous Improvement
Clients consistently give us high marks for quality service 98% average in
Overall Satisfaction. Our client satisfaction survey program helps us monitor
our level of performance and identify areas needing improvement. Service
problems that come to the attention of our customer service department are
reported to the general manager, who coordinates follow-up and resolution.
It's not unusual for our CEO to follow up with clients who report they're
having problems. Our goal is to resolve client concerns quickly in order to
maintain lasting relationships.Our surveys ask clients if they are satisfied with the way we answer their
questions and with the training we provide, whether deliveries are on time
and our staff is helpful, courteous and knowledgeable. We ask if they feel we
can improve our service and how. Besides client survey responses, we also
use delivery logs, route sheets, call tracking logs, and on-call logs to gauge
the quality of service we provide.All of this input is reviewed regularly by our Quality Improvement Committee.
All managers are required to attend quality meetings, communicate recom-
mendations to their staff, and follow up. Our Quality Improvement Process
functions quickly because all of our departments are located in the same
central facility.As a result of our attention to client satisfaction, the vast majority of clients
say they would recommend Vanguard to their families and friends in need
of our services. And while our marks are high (we're proud of our 98%
average), we won't be satisfied until we consistently achieve 100%. That's
total satisfaction. And that's our target at Vanguard Home Medical Equipment.
(Sidebar) OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS WRITE
Dear Vanguard Home Medical Equipment:
I personally want to thank you for your generous donation of durable
medical equipment to our [Equipment] Recycling Program at PARI Indepen-
dent Living Center. As a result of your generosity, many of the people who
contact the Recycling Program have received or will be able to receive the
equipment without being placed on a waiting list. Once again, thank you...---
Equipment Maintenance by Trained Technicians
We service what we sell and ensure that it operates properly. Well-trained,
experienced technicians perform scheduled preventive maintenance
procedures and repairs, usually without removing the equipment from
the patient's home. Sophisticated products requiring recalibration, such as
apnea monitors, pulse oximeters, ventilators and enteral pumps, are picked
up and delivered when the work is completed. We provide replacement
units while the patient's equipment is being serviced.Tracking and scheduling of service is done on our computer system and
followed up by our equipment managers. We triage all calls for equipment
malfunction. Life-support equipment gets top priority. (Equipment emer-
gencies are handled as soon as possible after of notification if no backup
unit is available in the patient's home.) All work is performed according
to the manufacturers' specifications and guidelines established by the Joint
Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.Our vast inventory of replacement parts is the largest of its kind in South-
eastern New England. We will deliver parts or customers can pick them
up at their convenience at our 28,000-square-foot headquarters facility. It
is centrally located in Warwick, R.I., just off I-95 (Exit 15) at 155 Jefferson
Blvd. We are known locally for stocking hard-to-find parts and supplies.
As an independent company, we can take a more global view. If our
customers need it, we'll stock it. They won't suffer for want of an
inexpensive part.
(Sidebar) OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS WRITE
Dear Vanguard Home Medical Equipment:
I wish to thank you for helping me and training me in all aspects of handing
portable oxygen, hospital bed operation and the use of home medical
equipment. All your professional help and expertise allowed me to give
Mom the very best care that she could have possibly had. You all should
be commended.I had Vanguard Home Medical Equipment along with Hospice Care of R.I.
for both my parents. This allowed them to die at home with great love and
dignity. I miss my parents very much. I lived with them my entire life and we
did everything together as a family. Once again, thank you...
---On Call for Patients Night and Day, Every Day
Vanguard provides emergency services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
But we do it a little differently than other providers in our industry. While
it is common practice after normal business hours for delivery personnel
to take calls and triage on-call services, we feel that decisions of this sort
should be made by licensed healthcare professionals. That's why at Van-
guard, all after-hours calls are answered by a respiratory therapist who
triages service requests and dispatches delivery personnel on a priority
basis. This added-value policy ensures a high-level of professionalism after
hours and eliminates unnecessary on-call visits.We keep our fleet of 20 delivery vehicles stocked with essential products
and ready to go out at a moment's notice to answer emergency calls. To
increase our readiness, all delivery technicians take their vehicles home with
them. That expands our flexibility by placing vehicles in various locations
throughout the service area, ready to respond quickly if needed to deal
with emergencies. Drivers are equipped with pagers, cell phones and radio
equipment, enabling us to maintain good communications.During business hours, Vanguard's customer service staff posts orders to
our computer system, which quickly verifies coverage and eligibility, then
processes them. A STAT order takes about 15 minutes from the time the
order is received until a printed ticket is in the dispatcher's hands. The order
is placed on a truck for immediate shipment. For normal shipping, the order
ships the same day if a vehicle is scheduled in the client's delivery area or
as soon as possible.Emergencies don't observe business hours. When a patient's oxygen supply
runs out or when a hospital bed fails to elevate and the patient's lungs start
filling with liquid, care-givers can rest assured that Vanguard Home Medical
Equipment will respond STAT in a professional manner to these and other
emergencies any time, night and day.(Sidebar) OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS WRITE
Dear Vanguard Home Medical Equipment:
Please accept this letter as a sincere thank you from a doctor who called our
office to sing your praises. He called the day after your quick response in the
arrangement and delivery of an apnea monitor for a six-month-old baby.
We referred him to your agency, and the equipment was delivered the same
night. In providing the family with this immediate need in record time, a hospi-
talization was avoided.On behalf of the Visiting Nurse Service of Pawtucket, I want to extend a
further thank you for your prompt attention and action. It was always a
pleasure working with your organization. Thanks again...
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