DMEPOS Warriors: Genesis Home Medical

Published in Member Communities on September 01, 2020

A few weeks ago, devastating storms hit Iowa and Illinois and caused widespread destruction, power outages, loss of internet and phone services, gas shortages and more. But those challenges were just the beginning of what was to be figured out and fixes for many VGM & Associates members who were impacted by the Derecho 2020. 

A recurring theme between our members is an all-hands-on-deck mentality to take care of their patients and others, and we are so grateful and proud of each and every member not only during challenging times, but for what you do each and every day!

Here is a story from our member, Genesis Home Medical!

Davenport was hit with a power outage, affecting Genesis Home Medical’s oxygen transfilling warehouse for about six hours. All the employees were in the office when the storm hit. The power came back on the next day, but the lack of it put them out for a while on tank refills. Genesis contracts with Airgas and had a good supply of tanks on hand, but they still needed additional tanks and dewers to get them by. Genesis Home Medical provided tanks to all their patients and even to their competitors’ O2 patients in area that did not have the capability to transfill or get tanks. Today, they are in the process of collecting the extra tanks they distributed.  

Overall, one of the biggest challenges that Genesis Home Medical faced was when U.S. Cellular service went out, causing their work phones to be down. Communication was a challenge, and they had to transfer their phones to a personal Verizon phone. The amount of calls coming in was very difficult to keep up on. Genesis Home Medical learned that it is very important to make sure oxygen patients have back up tanks and a back-up plan in case the power goes out. They serviced a lot of patients that were not their customers, but other providers’ customers that couldn't meet the demands. 


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