At Home with Dealers
Company Name: Lambert's Health Care dba Wolfe Medical
Location/Contact Info: 4901 North Broadway; Knoxville, TN 37918; (865) 523-1103; lambertshc.com
Established: 50 years ago
Types of products sold: All types of durable materials, anything from walkers through beds. We do oxygen therapy and a lot of respiratory setups.
Size of Company: A family-run company with 30-35 employees. Home Health Products spoke with Buddy Hunt, director of respiratory.
Q: What's unique about your store?
A: The uniqueness I think about Lambert's Health Care is the personal attention that we give each patient. We take the extra time that's not necessarily needed to give patient care. A lot of times we try to get patients to ask questions; we try to answer those questions on the front end so there are hardly any questions after that. We try to go over each thing, whatever we're putting out. We have a list of things that we go over with the patient, instruction-wise and so forth. I think that sets us apart. That's what we've been told. We take more time with our patients than normal, whatever normal is. It's a family-run organization. And the unique thing here is that this is probably the only place I've worked in my 40 years where it seems like everyone pitches in and helps each other out. I say this with tongue in cheek because it could happen today, but there have never been any arguments, which you often find in smaller company or, actually, any companies. People work together just tremendously. It's a fun place to work. And we enjoy what we do.
Q: What components of your business are working well for you?
A: We do have a full-time marketer and she goes out, literally, to the different hospitals and physician's offices and markets Lambert's Health Care. And by doing this, it makes people more aware. Of course, Lambert's is 50 years old; we are well-known for the service that we do provide in the areas of respiratory for one and the other durable medical equipment. Another area is that we are one of the largest uniform stores in the Southeast. We sell all types of nursing, physician, any type, of medical uniforms and just about all brands. And we are well-known for that. The company also has a strong retail and commercial wholesale business. Ventilators from Lambert's are rented directly to hospitals. More than 50 percent of our business is not insurance related.
Q: What is something you have learned from your experience in the HME industry?
A: To treat people as if they were your own parents. It's always rewarding.
Q: Do you think the HME industry is changing?
A: Well, in just the few years I've been in it, it definitely has changed. In what way has it changed? Reimbursements are getting very controlled, which they should be. Another thing is we have to be out on the road daily because we do go to the patient's home, for example, when setting up CPAPs and bi-PAPs. We cover 21 counties around this area, and with the gasoline prices like they are now, that's really going to make an impact. I'm not sure how that's going to impact us. Financially, it's going to impact us. I know we're going to keep visiting patients' homes, but we're probably going to have to look at how we're doing it and possibly get the patient to come and visit us here so we can do those setups, if possible that is.
Fun Fact: Two or three weeks ago, we had a heat wave. Our air conditioning system broke and, of course, we've got people coming in. So, the vice president of the company took this huge container of ice and we put water bottles in that, so when our customers did come in they could get a bottle of ice water. This helped. People came in who weren't smiling when they came in possibly, and then we offered them water and they left smiling.
This article originally appeared in the October 2005 issue of HME Business.