More than 10% of people living with multiple sclerosis (MS) will face serious disability. Caring for these patients presents unique challenges in health care delivery, especially access to care.
In response, the Multiple Sclerosis at Home Access (MAHA) program was launched in 2014. It was started by Kathi Healey, APRN, Ph.D., with the support from Rana Zabad, M.D. The MAHA program is a comprehensive, patient-centered service for individuals with MS and other demyelinating diseases living with disability in our community.
The name “MAHA” comes from the name of the Native American Omaha tribe, which originally settled in the area. The term means “against the wind” or “against the current,” which once described the strong winds and waters of the Great Plains and Missouri River. Respectful to its meaning, individuals with MS, along with their families, friends, care partners and health care providers, face strong winds of adversity in meeting the basic needs on a day-to-day basis.
Living with MS is not for the faint of heart. Research has supported a clear health care disparity in individuals with significant disability. But policies have been slow to change. By providing a “boots on the ground” service, we have learned that access to health care is only the first current. Additional problems include income, transportation, housing and isolation. Worst of all, many have reported feeling “invisible."
Over the last 10 years, we’ve learned a lot about what this community needs. That knowledge forms the foundation of the MAHA program, led by Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Guided by well-defined, fundamental, collaboratively created principles, we have made MS care more accessible, meaningful and productive.
What does MAHA do?
- Builds care around compassion, continuity, expertise, communication, coordination, intensive follow-up, monitoring and listening.
- Improves access to care, offering house calls, facility visits, telemedicine, and a transdisciplinary clinic with longer clinic time.
- Works with community home health agencies, durable medical vendors and other medical specialties to ensure everyone is on the same page.
- Collaborates with community-based services and resources and creates opportunities that improve quality of life.
Since 2014, MAHA has helped nearly 200 people. We continue enrolling additional patients into the program with expanded outreach of house calls into Eastern Iowa. Implementation of the MAHA Health Equity Initiative will allow us to focus efforts in better serving North and South Omaha and those residing in rural Nebraska ─ populations that historically lack access to care.
While we have been nationally and internationally recognized for our work, philanthropic support has been crucial to maintaining the MAHA program. Given MAHA’s unique nature, ongoing donations and sponsorships will be critical to sustaining and growing the program.
If you would like to support MAHA, please contact Emily Tiensvold, Sr. Director of Development with the University of Nebraska Foundation at 402.502.4107 or Emily.tiensvold@nufoundation.org.