Melanie Woytek

at AccentCare Home Health

JENNY TWITCHELL Special to The Eagle

After an extensive nursing career working in cardiac critical care, intensive care, emergency rooms, and acute care for 23 years, Melanie Woytek found her home in home health care.

For the past three years, Woytek has worked for AccentCare Home Health where she enjoys going into patients’ homes and treating them in a way that keeps them out of the hospital.

“I get to take care of people on a one a one basis versus being in a hospital setting,” Woytek said. “I get to spend my time with them, do my full assessments, including X-rays, EKGs, and we can catch things early. Just last week I caught early pneumonia, and the patient was able to be treated at home and did not have to go to the hospital. That’s our goal – to keep people out of the hospital.”

Her vast experience working in trauma and with skilled cardiac surgeons prepared her to be eff ective in catching illnesses that other nurses may otherwise miss, she said.

That expertise has endeared patients to her, said Sheila Bennett, RN, BSN, clinical nursing supervisor at AccentCare.

“They trust her,” Bennett said. “When you’re sick, to have someone you trust, and you know is listening to you and will go into action is so important. And she does it because she really cares. You can tell she enjoys what she does. Despite how busy we are right now; you can see her dedication.”

Woytek is fully dedicated to being a nurse, though she admits there are some aspects of it that aren’t her favorite.

“There are some things I don’t love – we do wound care in home health – that’s not my favorite; other nurses are good at that, but I’m good at keeping you alive, and my patients know that,” she said. “I will look at your labs, try to fi gure out what’s going on before something else happens. Labs tell us a lot about your heart, lungs, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, and if we can catch things early, we can generally stop the progression of the disease process.”

It’s also Woytek’s people skills, like patience and dedication that endear her to patients as well, Bennett said.

“Her patients would literally only want her,” said. “She has a bond with her patients, and in return, we know we can depend on her to provide that care. She is very trustworthy and dependable.”

Whether it’s mobility issues, age, obesity, orthopedic issues, or something else, Woytek sees patients who can’t get into the doctor regularly, including people on oxygen or who are scared to leave their home because of the risk of infection. Since the pandemic, there has been a huge increase in need for home visits, Woytek said.

“They’re scared to leave their homes, scared to catch anything – to get pneumonia, or the fl u or bronchitis, and COVID really just made that worse,” Woytek said.

Another reason why Woytek chose home health is because she wanted to build those relationships. It’s the nature of the job, especially because home health care includes working together to get better, she said.

“We work as a team because if the patient doesn’t do what you ask them to do, there’s no point, but there’s an amazing feeling to see them get back to where they were before they got sick,” Woytek said. “It’s unexplainable to know that you’re a part of seeing them live longer.”

Woytek said she focuses on treating her patients like they are her own family. One way that Woytek cherishes her patients is by scrapbooking, she said. She takes pictures with her patients so that she never forgets them.

“I want to remember my patients, I care so much for them,” she said. “I want to remember their names, what they’ve done with their lives, what their motto is for life, and then what I learned from them. It’s so important for nurses to learn from their patients because you can learn a lot if you just listen.”

Woytek has a 17-yearold daughter and owns a barrel racing production company where she produces barrel races every week. She is also in the process of starting a new business of starting a haunted house in the Bryan-College Station or nearby area.

“Yes, I’m very diff erent,” she said. “I love to get my hands everywhere.”