University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center has launched the area’s first wellness center for people living with chronic conditions

By Ken McEntee

Considering the monitoring, medications, dietary restrictions and other things one needs to keep track of, dealing with a chronic disease like diabetes or hypertension can be challenging—not only for patients, but for caregivers as well.

That’s why University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center opened the area’s first Wellness Clinic for Chronic Disease Management on April 1, 2019. The Wellness Clinic is available to help take the confusion out of living with chronic conditions like heart disease, anemia, chronic kidney disease and respiratory diseases like asthma and COPD.

The Wellness Clinic is a valuable resource for patients being discharged after a hospital visit, or any other community member who has a chronic disease, emphasizes Donald DeCarlo, MD, president and chief medical officer at UH Geauga Medical Center.

“One of the things that is evolving in health care is we are going beyond episodic health care,” Dr. DeCarlo says. “In the past, hospitals would take care of patients until they were discharged and we didn’t see them again until they came back. We now realize that, especially being a community hospital, our responsibility to our patients is to make them as healthy as possible whether they are in the hospital or at home.”

The new Wellness Clinic was created to help people and their caregivers navigate through the complexities of their conditions by focusing on education, symptom management and medication adherence.

Services include:

• Diagnostic testing and preventive screenings
• Identification of early signs and symptoms
• Management of medications and side effects
• Diet and exercise recommendations
• IV medication administration
• Referrals to primary care or specialist physicians

“When somebody is hospitalized, there are a lot of people giving them information to help them understand their disease, the treatments and the medications,” says Cyndie Bender, director of the clinic. “It’s a lot of information to process, and sometimes a patient may not retain it all when he or she leaves the hospital.”

Cyndie says the Wellness Clinic, which is staffed by a team that includes a physician assistant, a pharmacist and two registered nurses, is meant to support—not replace—a patient’s doctor.

“Communicating with a person’s physician, whether the physician is in or out of the University Hospitals system, is a big part of the program,” she assures.

Wellness Clinic services are available to patients who are discharged from a hospital stay, have undergone observation or have visited an emergency department. Other people in the community who are experiencing chronic diseases also can call for an appointment. The initial appointment typically takes 60 to 90 minutes and includes a physical examination and a discussion to evaluate the particulars of a patient’s condition and lifestyle. Depending on his or her circumstances, a patient might visit one time, or schedule weekly or monthly appointments.

The clinic targets people who are 55 years old and up.

“UH is very proactive in providing innovative support services for our patients,” Cyndie says.

The Wellness Clinic will host educational and social events, like cooking classes and movie nights, in conjunction with University Hospitals’ free Age Well Be Well club for people aged 55-plus.

“There is a social aspect to wellness and we want to provide that as well,” she says.

You can visit UHHospitals.org/locations/uh-geauga-health-center or call 216-286-5433 (LIFE) to schedule an appointment or get more information about University Hospitals’ new Wellness Clinic for Chronic Disease Management. The clinic is located in University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center, 13221 Ravenna Road, Suite 12, in Chardon.