Coming home from the hospital
Coming home from Penn State Health Hershey Medical Center
Hershey Medical Center treats the hardest cases in central Pennsylvania, and its patients often go home to Hershey, Hummelstown, Palmyra, Elizabethtown and towns an hour away. Someone needs to be there when they arrive.
Care arranged before discharge, including for patients coming home to rural counties.
Support through complex recoveries: cardiac, cancer, neurology, orthopedic, transplant.
Medication reminders per the discharge plan and rides back to Hershey for follow-ups.
Coordination with the home health and therapy services Penn State Health orders.
Overnight or 24-hour presence for the first weeks, stepping down as strength returns.
Hershey discharges are different
Hershey Medical Center is the region’s academic medical center and Level I trauma center. Patients go home after heart surgery, strokes, cancer treatment, major orthopedic and spine surgery, and transplant. Recoveries are longer, medication schedules more complex, and follow-up appointments back in Hershey more frequent. The family is often exhausted from days at the bedside before the recovery at home even begins.
What to arrange before discharge
- Get the plan in writing from the case manager: restrictions, what help is needed, which home health services are ordered, when the follow-ups are.
- Call us with the date. We ask about mobility, the home, the diagnosis in plain terms, and family availability, then tell you what we can staff.
- Prepare the house for the restrictions: first-floor bed and bathroom if needed, clear paths, a chair with arms, shower chair, prescriptions filled ahead.
- Choose the coverage for the first week: daytime, overnight, or 24-hour.
The first days home
The caregiver meets your parent at the house, helps them settle, prepares a meal, sets up the medication schedule per the discharge instructions, and stays through the evening or overnight. Over the following days: bathing help, meals, reminders to do the exercises the therapist leaves, a ride back to Hershey for the follow-up, and daily notes to the family. Skilled nursing and therapy visits come from the home health agency Penn State Health arranges; our caregiver makes sure the plan happens between visits.
Where Hershey patients go home to
Hershey, Hummelstown, Palmyra and Annville along Route 422; Elizabethtown and Mount Joy to the south; Harrisburg and its suburbs to the west; Lebanon, Myerstown and Schuylkill County to the east. See Dauphin County, Lebanon County and Lancaster County.
Other situations we help with
Coming home from the hospital
The hospital wants the bed. The discharge planner says someone needs to be home. You have a job, kids, and maybe a two-hour drive. This is the situation we are built for.
After surgery
A hip, a knee, a heart, a back. The surgeon says recovery at home is fine as long as someone is there. You want to say yes to that. Here is how to make it true.
24-hour care
The doctor, the discharge planner, or your own gut has said it: someone needs to be there all the time. You want that to be home. Here is how 24-hour care actually works.
Alongside hospice
Hospice brings nurses, aides, a social worker and a chaplain, but usually for a few hours a week. The other 160 hours belong to the family. We can carry some of them with you.
Frequently asked questions
Are you affiliated with Penn State Health?
My parent is coming home to a county far from Hershey. Can you cover it?
What can your caregivers do after a serious hospitalization?
This article is general information for Pennsylvania families and is not medical, legal, financial, or insurance advice. It's Your Home Care is a non-medical home care agency licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health; we do not provide skilled nursing or medical services. Program rules and eligibility change; confirm details with the agency or program named, your physician, or a qualified advisor before making decisions.
Talk to a care coordinator who knows Dauphin County
Tell us what is happening at home. We will explain your options, including what private pay, long-term care insurance, VA benefits, and Pennsylvania waiver programs may cover, and schedule an in-home care consultation when you are ready.