St. John Home Health Care has gone fully mobile with wireless Internet access cards from Sprint Nextel.

The 175 field workers now can get on the Internet from anywhere their job may take them.

Karen Oravec, director of clinical systems for the home health agency, said the implementation began six months ago and wrapped up with the last few users about two weeks ago.

"Before we had the wireless cards, the field staff could only transfer data if they were in the office, or from their homes, and at their homes it was an old-fashioned dial-up type of line," Oravec said. "Now they can send and receive data wherever they need to."

Now, employees have the ability regardless of location to pull up a map to a patient’s home, access patient records, communicate more effectively with the office and decrease the use of paper in all communications.

Other time- and resource-saving measures include digital patient charting, updating patient condition more quuickly, and the direct ordering of supplies and shipping them direct to a patient's home.

Staffers will also be able to get e-mail through the cards, and get on the St. John Intranet.

St. John Home Health covers Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair and Wayne counties, and will add service in Washtenaw and Livingston counties once St. John's new Novi hospital opens later this year.

The nurses and physical therapists involved are assisting patients recovering at home from a wide variety of surgeries and injuries.