Sunshine Health Facilities Inc., which operates the Sunshine Gardens skilled-nursing facility in Spokane Valley, says it has expanded its services to provide in-home skilled care throughout Spokane County.

A new affiliate, Sunshine Home Health Care LLC, recently was accredited by Medicare to provide home-health care, says Justin Mathiason, the new provider's administrator.

Sunshine Home Health Care is based at the Sunshine Gardens complex, at 10428 E. Ninth, where it occupies 800 square feet of space, although most of its care providers work in patients' homes rather than at the office, Mathiason says. "Were out in the community," he says.

The company has a staff of 12 employees, Mathiason says. Sunshine Home Health assigns each patient a case manager who oversees a team of care providers, which can include a registered nurse, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, a medical social worker, and a home-health aide, depending on the patient's needs, he says.

Most of Sunshine Home Health Care's patients are covered by Medicare, the federal health-care insurance program for senior citizens and the disabled, Mathiason says. Medicare patients must be referred by their physicians to Sunshine Home Health Care, which, under Medicare rules, can provide skilled care for up to 60 days following an acute or traumatic event, such as a stroke or other injury, he says.

"We also work with discharge planners at hospitals," Mathiason says. "If patients need therapy when they go home, we send therapists or nurses to continue treatment."

Sunshine Health Facilities also operates Sunshine Terrace assisted-living facility, Sunshine House independent boarding home, and Sunshine Physical Therapy & Fitness Center, a geriatric therapy and rehabilitation center, all of which are on the Sunshine Gardens 7-acre campus.