When Paige Croxford had her first baby in 2022, she was in the hospital longer than planned.
After laboring for three days with little progress, she had a C-section that kept her in the hospital for a few more days. For her, the experience wasn’t great.
“I wasn’t prepared for how challenging even simple things, like getting in and out of a hospital bed, would be, especially while trying to care for this tiny new person,” she said.
She knew if she ever had another baby, she wanted her experience to be different.
Croxford, the director of Access Coordination & Strategic Development at U of U Health, learned about a new program when she returned to work after maternity leave.
“I learned about Heal at Home, a program to help patients have a smoother—and earlier—transition to home after being discharged from the hospital,” she said. “I remember thinking how it would have been ideal for me as a patient to go home earlier after my C-section and kick off the healing process in the comfort of my own home.”
A Different Vision for Postpartum Recovery
Heal at Home provides multidisciplinary, individualized care for patients transitioning from the hospital to their home after a surgery or procedure. The program was not only something that stood out to Croxford as a patient but also as a professional working in a health care system.
“An important piece of my role at U of U Health is to help patients navigate the health care system,” she said. “This new program lined up perfectly with that.”
When Croxford was expecting her second baby in 2025, she knew she wanted to participate in the Heal at Home program.
“My midwife mentioned the program at one of my first appointments,” Croxford said. “With my medical history, I qualified for the program and was really excited because I already had an understanding of how it worked.”
Croxford was comforted knowing that she would go home much sooner after her second C-section.
I knew that, this time around, it was going to be different. That was one of the most exciting things for me, that I could be in the comfort of my own home with my husband and toddler soon after.
Care, Comfort, and Confidence at Home
In October 2025, Croxford and her newborn went home within 24 hours of her C-section.
“Because baby and I were doing well, we were able to go home after one night,” she said.
A day after returning home, Croxford and her baby—a girl named Brynn—had their first in-home visit with a nurse from Community Nursing Services.
“She checked on both me and the baby during each visit, making sure we were doing well,” Croxford said. “At one point, Brynn’s umbilical cord accidentally snagged on a zipper and started bleeding for a moment, which was really scary. I had scheduled a visit with the pediatrician, but the nurse saw us first and helped me feel so much better about the situation. She gave me the confidence to wait until our appointment the next day rather than rushing my baby to an unnecessary urgent care visit.”
What stood out most to Croxford was the way the nurse’s care felt unhurried and personalized.
“She wasn’t rushing in and out,” she said. “She was mindful of my incision, careful in helping me move around, and just really gentle. It made the whole experience feel so much better.”
In the quiet of her own home, Croxford had better bonding time—with Brynn and with her 3-year-old sister, Presley.
“Presley was immediately immersed in being a big sister and got to see first-hand the care happening in our home,” she said. “In a way, I think it helped her understand what was happening a little more and allowed her to be involved from the start.”
For two weeks following the C-section, Croxford’s nurse made several home visits to make sure she and baby Brynn were doing well. Because of a healing issue with her incision, she had a few extra visits to make sure things were healing like they should.
“When I had a small healing issue, she helped make sure everyone in my house knew I needed to take it easy,” she said. “I appreciated having someone else deliver that message to my rowdy 3-year-old.”
While the Heal at Home program has been life-changing for patients like Croxford, the program helps patients of all ages, all walks of life, and across different areas of specialty care.
“Because the transition of care is universal, we can make that easier and safer than it has been in the past,” said Jared Huber, MD, who works closely with Heal at Home in his role as medical director for home-based care at U of U Health.
Initially, Heal at Home was only available for orthopedic surgery recovery, specifically hip and knee replacements. “Now we cover a lot of different specialties, and there are a lot of other places we are hoping to go,” Huber said.
For Huber, Heal at Home goes beyond providing excellent medical services.
I think what we help people with the most is the feelings of anxiety and overwhelm that can come when you’re trying to take care of yourself or a loved one after a medical event. Having a health professional who has a direct line of communication back to the main health provider can help patients feel supported, seen, and taken care of across the entire healing process.
Huber’s favorite part of Heal at Home is the people. The multidisciplinary team includes case managers, providers, administrators, leaders and stakeholders from both Community Nursing Services and University of Utah Health.
“The people who are doing the work and making this program possible are the ones who are saying we can do it, and we can do it even better,” Huber said. “It’s very forward-looking, and you get to work with people who care about the end goal.”
There’s also the patients.
“You get to meet patients where they are and follow problems through to the end, which is something you don’t often get to do in the hospital,” he said. “Seeing more of that healing process helps us learn to solve problems in better ways for patients.”
Huber also wants patients to feel empowered to talk with their providers about the program to see if they are eligible.
“We have had repeat patients use Heal at Home for different things,” said Huber. “We want to make sure the program is available to anyone who can benefit.”
Croxford hopes to be one of those repeat patients in the future.
“If I ever have another baby, I would do the Heal at Home program again,” she said. “Being in my home so soon after welcoming a new baby was so important for my family unit.”
