Our wound care team is comprised of specially trained registered nurses and wound-ostomy certified nurses, totaling over 25 years of experience in wound/ostomy care. The nurses are certified in WoundVac management, anodyne therapy, as well as having digital photography availability.

• Eliminates unnecessary and unscheduled visits to the emergency room or doctor's office.
• Breaks the cycle for emergency care and hospital re-admissions for patients with chronic disease.
• Encourages patients to be more proactive in their care.
• Reinforces positive behavior and lifestyle changes.
• Gives concerned caregivers and family members peace of mind.

Once a patient is no longer under the care of a nurse from GLHH, patients and/or family members have the option of purchasing HomMed monitoring services.

Great Lakes Homes Healthcare offers a medication reminder system that is set up by the agency with medications prescribed by your physician. This system will provide a voice command and light cue to indicate when it is time to take medication(s) and the number of pills. A daily record of medications is sent to a computer system that is reviewed by a nurse.

Palliative care is medical care that focuses on treating the pain, symptoms and stress that can accompany serious illness. It is designed to support other treatment patients receive by helping them live comfortably throughout their illness. Palliative care can help a patient at any stage of a serious illness. It is best introduced early in the plan of treatment. A patient may need palliative care if he or she:

• Is suffering from symptoms that are hard to treat such as pain, nausea, fatigue, depression or anxiety.
• Needs help understanding treatment choices.
• Wants support with making difficult medical decisions.
• Needs assistance coordinating treatments from different doctors.
  

Download the Mom and Baby brochure

When it comes to the care of you and your newborn, experience matters! At Great Lakes Home Healthcare, we take great pride in bringing you some of the area's most experienced nurses in the specialty areas of labor and delivery, post-partum, nursery, neonatal intensive care and gynecology. Collectively, our nurses, have over 40 years of home care experience and an additional 136 years of nursing expertise in maternal child health. This is the experience you want and need when it comes to caring for you and your baby. Giving birth can be overwhelming, with many questions to follow. Our maternal child health program is designed to answer those questions and meet the needs of women and their children at home. Services include:

• Prenatal care for high-risk pregnancies.
• Welcome home care for early hospital discharge.
• Post-partum care (for both mother and baby)

Some indications for pediatric services include:

• Failure to thrive.
• Cancer care.
• Tracheostomy and tube feeding management
• Wound and burn care.
• Diabetes education and care.
• Conditions requiring physical, occupational or speech therapy.

Our assessments for mothers and/or children include:

• Complete pre-natal assessments
• Environmental readiness
• How to identify the symptoms of labor
• Teaching and assessment of the complications of labor.
• Management of gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, hyper-emesis and pre-term labor
• Assessment of fetal heart tones
• IV hydration and more
• Complete post-partum assessments:
  • Mom and baby
  • Vital signs
  • Feeding concerns
  • Breast feeding follow-up
  • Basic infant care and teaching
  • Infant bathing
  • Umbilical cord care
  • Circumcision care
  • Jaundice treatment
  • Blood work
  • Bradycardia follow-up (apnea monitoring)
  • Community resource referral

Our services for women also include:

• Post-surgical wound care
• PICC lines and antibiotic therapy
• Pessary management
• Bladder function assessment
• Bladder training

Download the GLHH Rehab brochure

Comprehensive rehabilitation services include physical, occupational and speech therapy. Our therapists have a broad range of expertise and qualifications. These services help patients return to their optimal function after an illness, injury or surgery.

• Specialized post-op surgery programs for knee, hip and spinal surgeries.
• Home safety evaluations.
• Post CVA rehabilitation.
• Gait strengthening.
• Balance training.
• Equipment training and evaluation.
• Pain assessment and treatment.
• Transfer and stair training.
• Energy conservation.
• Neuropathy treatment
• Lymphedema treatment

• Improve upper extremity strength.
• Improve independence in bathing, dressing and self-care and feeding.
• Upper extremity and hand therapy.
• Adaptive equipment.
• Balance and endurance training.
• Assistance in wheelchair fitting.
• Visual deficit training and safety evaluation.
• Community re-integration.
• Cognition.
• Patient and family education.
• Energy conservation.

• Speech articulation.
• Swallowing difficulties.
• Therapeutic exercises.
• Cognitive function.
• Auditory/visual comprehension.
• Verbal and graphic expression.

Home health aide services are available to provide personal care, assist with dressing, bathing, grooming, transfers and feeding, all under the supervision and guidance of a registered nurse.

To help pull everything together, we have a medical social worker available to assess and improve the patient's emotional adjustment through counseling, as well as referral to outside community resources and agencies. The social worker helps the patient and family adjust to issues resulting from the patient's illness or injury.

Private Duty Nursing Brochure.

Great Lakes Home Healthcare Services (GLHHS) has been providing private duty nursing services in the Erie community for many years with professional nurses and home health aides. Our family of registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and home health aides have a mission to provide optimal wellness and independence to you or your family member. In fact, we consider our professional nursing staff "champions of caring" because they deliver high quality care and meet your specific needs in the home. If you or your family member need personalized hourly care in the home, we will arrange for one of our professionals to become your "champion of caring".

We can receive referrals directly from families, physicians, nurses, case managers, social workers and other healthcare providers. We accept reimbursement from private health insurances, auto insurance, Medicaid and special government programs. Our experie nced staff will assist you with reimbursement options.

Private duty nursing services are appropriate for clients requiring nursing or assistance for extended hours per visit.

Adult Care

Our nurses provide personalized hourly care associated with chronic health conditions and disabilities, while promoting optimal wellness, independence, comfort and dignity. Our champions of caring serve clients with alterations in mobility, respiratory and neurological functions. We provide expert care for clients with high-tech needs, such as ventilators, feeding methods and tracheostomies.

Pediatric Care

Our champions of care are reliable nurses you can trust with your child's health and well-being. Nurses of GLHHS provide skilled hourly care for children with high-technology needs. Each child receives comprehensive supervision with documented evaluation of goals, progress recommendations and family focused multidisciplinary team conferences to review their care.

Geriatric Care

Our home health aides assist with many activities of daily living under the supervision of a registered nurse. These include, but not limited to:

• Bathing
• Dressing
• Feeding
• Mobility

They can also assist with tasks around the home, like light housekeeping, laundry, shopping and preparing meals.

Under the direction of a physician, our specially trained staff can administer a variety of infusion medications in the comfort of the patient's home. Through planning, management, and evaluating, we make sure that the quality of care the patient receives from their doctor and hospital continues at home. Using the latest technology in home infusion therapy and the expertise of our in-house pharmacy staff, our team of experts provides services unmatched in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Our experienced nurses are licensed in Pennsylvania and New York and our in-house pharmacy is USP 97 compliant. We also offer the services of a clinical nutritionist for enteral and total parenteral nutrition clients. Services can be provided either at home or in the comfort of our ambulatory infusion center located at 1700 Peach Street, Erie.

Some of the therapies include:

Antibiotic
Many IV antibiotics can be given safely and conveniently at home. Our patient friendly pumps are simple to learn, and our infusion nurses are always available.

Baclofen Pumps
Our Infusion Nurses are specially trained to program and fill Medtronic Synchromed pumps. These pumps are implanted for control of spasticity and pain.

Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy can be given safely and conveniently in the home to both adults and children. Our Infusion Nursing Staff can monitor laboratory studies if ordered. Supplemental therapies, such as Procrit, Neupogen & Neulasta are also available.

Hemophilia products
A full line of hemophilia products are available for home infusion. We carry Factor VII, VIII, IX, and Von Willebrand's Disease therapies. We are an active supporter of the local hemophilia community and the Erie Hemophilia Foundation.

Immune Globulin
IV Gamma globulin infusions are given for Immune deficiencies, and peripheral neuropathies. These specialized infusions can be very effective.

Ionotropes
Dobutamine or Milrinone can be administered by home infusion pumps. Close monitoring by our professional staff makes this a viable option for congestive heart failure patients.

IV hydration
IV fluids are often ordered in cases of dehydration. This therapy is offered at home to quickly & conveniently restore normal hydration levels.

Pain Management
We specialize in implanted (Synchromed) intrathecal pain pumps; we also place and manage IV and subcutaneous pain pumps.

Remicade
Used for Crohns' disease, Colitis, and Rheumatoid Arthritis, Remicade is a very effective treatment for both. Infusions are done in our Ambulatory Infusion Center with careful monitoring.

Steroid Therapy
Multiple sclerosis patients frequently need IV steroid infusion, which can be done safely and comfortably at home.

TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition)
Total Parenteral Nutrition is delivered safely and conveniently to those patients that can't maintain adequate nutritional intake by any other means. Our Clinical Pharmacists, Nutritionists, and Infusion Nursing staff closely monitor all patients.

Home Respiratory Therapy Services

Great Lakes Home Healthcare Services (GLHHS) offers a staff of registered respiratory therapists who evaluate and care for patients of all ages who suffer from acute and chronic respiratory diseases, heart-related conditions, sleep apnea and other breathing disorders affecting the pulmonary system. We also specialize in the care of pediatric patients and offer the expertise of Certified Asthma Educators. Our staff coordinates the delivery and maintenance of the equipment required for the patient's care. Services and equipment includes:

• Oxygen concentrators
• Portable oxygen systems
• Liquid oxygen systems
• Nebulizers (and respiratory medications)
• CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure)
• BiPAP (bi-level positive airway pressure)
• Phototherapy (for infant jaundice)
• Infant apnea monitors
• Home ventilators
• Suction machines and tracheostomy supplies

Good nutrition is a key to maintaining the best health and wellness of everyone. It becomes even more important when a patient experiences a chronic health condition or multiple diseases. Our Nutrition Support Team has Enteral and Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) expertise including knowledge of formulas, care and maintenance of access devices, and methods of administration.

Medical Nutrition Therapy

Medical nutrition therapy at Great Lakes Home Healthcare Services is a one-on-one counseling session conducted by a registered dietitian. Medical nutrition therapy refers to nutrition assessments focused to identify interventions helpful during treatment of an illness, injury or disease condition. The nutrition care process can include assessment, establishment of self-management goals, development of nutrition plan, documentation, communication with the primary care provider, evaluation and reassessment, and outcomes measurements. Home assessments are also available. Patients who are diagnosed with a serious condition or disease process can benefit from medical nutrition therapy, such as:

• Severe obesity (children and adults)
• Bariatric surgery patients
• Coronary heart disease
• Hyperlipidemia
• Hypertension
• Congestive heart failure
• Pediatric failure to thrive
• Gastrointestinal disorders
• Celiac Disease
• Diabetes*
• Renal failure*

* These patients are consulted by registered dietitians who are also certified diabetes educators.