Great Lakes Home Healthcare and Hospice

My capstone experience with Great Lakes Home Healthcare and Hospice, a division of UPMC Hamot, in Erie, Pennsylvania has been an incredible experience to say the least. The company serves over five hundred patients a day in the surrounding cities of Erie County. They provide a wide range of services including skilled nursing care, maternal/child care, wound care, palliative care, hospice care, post-operative care, HomMed monitoring, and physical, occupational, and speech therapy.  This experience has broadened my scope of nursing practice and has allowed me to grow both as an individual and as a nurse.

When beginning this capstone experience, the most difficult part was adjusting to the new environment, agency, and people. The staff at Great Lakes Home Healthcare and Hospice has been very welcoming and has made me feel like part of their team. Growing up in a small town in Northern Ohio has made the transition to a larger, more diverse city a bit of a challenge. It is hard for me to fathom the living conditions of the patients we are caring for. The majority of the homes we serve are deteriorating, dirty, and have minimal necessity items. Many of the patients are of low socioeconomic status, uneducated, and not well groomed. Although it is heart wrenching to see how these individuals live, I feel honored to provide the vital care and support they need during their most vulnerable time.

Over the course of my experience this far, I have had the privilege to work with an exceptional maternal/child home healthcare nurse. During a maternal/child visit, the home environment is assessed to promote the health and safety of the mother and baby. As a home healthcare nurse, I complete a detailed assessment of the mother and baby including the mother’s physical and emotional health, postpartum concerns such as the presence of depression, wound care of a cesarean section, and vital signs. The mother’s medications and vitamin supplementation are discussed and education on birth-control methods is provided. The baby’s vital signs, weight, and often times a bilirubin level are assessed. Education on proper nutrition including meeting the recommended calories and fluid intake is reinforced as well as the preferred feeding method for the baby. Any questions or concerns the parents may have are then addressed. When the maternal/child caseload is low, my nurse and I care for medsurg patients. Throughout this experience, I have cared for a number of patients with a variety of different diagnoses, some of which are extremely rare. This has allowed me to utilize many nursing skills, think critically, and gain a much larger knowledge base.

As an individual, I feel as though this experience has made me more culturally aware. Erie, Pennsylvania has exposed me too much diversity, as there are individuals from all walks of life. This diversity has also helped me to grow as a nurse, as I have learned how to provide culturally competent care with each patient’s unique needs in mind. Erie, Pennsylvania is now the home to many refugees from Nepal, many of which I have cared for. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I have had the opportunity to care for a pediatric hospice patient. It has taught me how to provide peace, comfort and dignity to a dying patient as well as support the family members during this difficult time. Overall, this capstone experience has been quite memorable and has provided me much knowledge and experience to take with me in whatever career path I may choose.