Senior Care at UPMC in Central Pa.

Older adults have special health needs. That’s why we offer a range of comprehensive programs to help you or your loved one maintain optimal health and well-being.

Our Approach to Care

Our Senior Care provides older adults a variety of care and services to help them maintain their quality of life and independence. We provide primary care at home to older adults who have complex health care needs as well as consultations for patients with complex geriatric conditions. In addition, we partner with primary care physicians to co-manage care of older adults who may have multiple health issues that require an interdisciplinary team approach.

Our senior care providers diagnose, treat, and manage a variety of conditions experienced by older adult patients, including:

• Impaired memory, with or without behavioral issues
• Falls and mobility issues
• Social and safety concerns, such as ability to drive, being homebound, and/or living alone
• Weight loss, failure to thrive, or overall declining health
• Palliative care

We begin with a health assessment with the goal of encouraging wellness and independent function. We recognize the significant role of the caregiver in caring for the older adult and include their needs as part of our assessment.

The assessment leads to targeted interventions including more complete evaluations by experts from our interdisciplinary team.

Based on the findings, we establish an ongoing treatment plan, keeping in mind the values, goals, and wishes of our patient.

Our Care Team

Our interdisciplinary team includes geriatricians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and other specially trained staff:

• A geriatrician is a physician who is board-certified in either internal medicine or family practice medicine and who has an additional one to two years of training and board certification in geriatric medicine.
• Certified registered nurse practitioners (CRNP) are nurses who have advanced training. Our CRNPs are trained in gerontology and work in partnership with our geriatricians. They treat both physical and mental conditions. CRNPs also serve as a patient's "point of entry" into our program if immediate attention is needed.
• Nurses help facilitate the care of older adults in our practice. Nurses are licensed professionals and assist the physician with history taking, screening for vital signs and symptoms, updating information on medications, and other key health care issues.

In-Home Care

Our care team uses an interdisciplinary team approach, all working to help our patients maintain self-care ability, remain independent, and age in place. We can provide much more than a visiting nurse! Our focus is on assessing and optimizing our patient’s function, which includes physical, cognitive, psychological, and social aspects. We can serve as a patient’s source for primary care, write prescriptions, and also make referrals for services such as grocery shopping and delivery, home-delivered meals, housekeeping, yard work, etc. Together we can help maximize a patient’s self-care ability and quality of life.

The scope of the assessment varies depending on the patient’s level of frailty and the ability to do day-to-day activities. We recognize the significant role of the caregiver in caring for the older adult and include caregivers in our assessment. A patient’s personalized care plan is developed with input from the patient, their family, and caregiving friends, as well as our health care professionals.

Home and Community-Based Care Post Hospitalization

Ensuring that the progress and strides made during a hospital stay are not lost once a patient is discharged is a priority. With the quality of life and independence of the patient in mind, we can provide medical supervision in cooperation with a patient’s primary care physician.

Providers

• Fotini Debonera, MD, PhD
• Alexsandra Motroni, MD

Our Locations

Heartland Family Health
Part of UPMC Primary Care
1535 Highlands Drive
Suite 100
Lititz, PA 17543-7681

Phone: 717-869-4695
Fax: 717-869-4694