Coming home from WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital

Before discharge from WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital

Before your parent leaves WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital on Gettys Street, ask the case manager what the first two weeks will look like and call us as soon as you have a likely discharge date. Discharges can move up quickly when a bed is needed, and a day's notice makes a real difference to how we can staff the first shifts in Adams County. Questions worth asking:

• Has home health been ordered, and which agency will send the nurse and therapist? You can ask for the list of agencies that serve your parent's address and choose among them.
• Is your parent cleared to climb stairs, shower and ride in a car, or should someone be within arm's reach for all of it?
• Which medications changed, and will the pharmacy have them ready the day of discharge?
• Will the follow-up be in Gettysburg, or with a specialist in York or Hanover?
• What signs should send you back to the emergency department, and whom do you call after hours?

Then call us at (717) 695-2704. A care coordinator asks about mobility, the house and family schedules, and arranges an in-home consultation, usually within one to two business days in the Harrisburg area and a little longer in Adams County.

The first days home

The first days home, whether after surgery or a medical stay, are when many families discover how much help is really needed. When we know the date early, we work to have a caregiver meet your parent at the house to help them settle, prepare a meal and give Medication Reminders that follow the discharge sheet. After that the routine fills in: help with bathing and dressing, breakfast and lunch, laundry, a walk to the mailbox with a walker close by, reminders for the home exercise program, and a short note to you at the end of each shift. Farmhouses and older borough homes often have the only full bathroom upstairs; we talk through first-floor sleeping, a bedside commode and night-time help with you before the first shift, and some families add overnight care for the first week.

Where Gettysburg patients go home to

Gettysburg Hospital patients go home across the whole county. In and around the borough: Gettysburg, Cumberland and Straban townships, and Bonneauville out PA 116. North into the fruit belt: Biglerville, Arendtsville, Bendersville and Aspers, then York Springs on US 15 toward Dillsburg. West: Cashtown, and Fairfield and Carroll Valley near Liberty Mountain on PA 116. South: Littlestown near the Maryland line. East along US 30: New Oxford and Abbottstown, with East Berlin to the northeast and McSherrystown at the Hanover end of the county, where some families are discharged from UPMC Hanover instead. Rural addresses depend on caregiver availability; longer, recurring shifts are easier to staff than short visits, and we will say so up front. See our Adams County page, the Gettysburg community page, and our page on Hanover for the York County side.

Working alongside the home health agency

The home health agency handles the skilled visits; we handle the hours between them. A nurse may come to check vital signs, review medications or change a dressing, and a physical or occupational therapist may come two or three times a week. Those visits are short, and Medicare generally covers them for patients who qualify. Our caregivers provide non-medical help: personal care, meals, light housekeeping, supervision and company. We do not provide nursing, therapy, wound care or injections. With your permission, the caregiver writes down what the therapist asked your parent to practice and encourages it between visits. Medicare does not pay for ongoing non-medical home care. Families pay privately, use long-term care insurance or VA benefits, or apply for help such as OPTIONS through the Adams County Office for Aging at (717) 334-9296. Our guide to home care and home health explains how the two fit together.

We are independent of WellSpan Health

It's Your Home Care is an independent home care agency licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. We are not affiliated with WellSpan Health or WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital. You can call us directly, and you can tell the case manager that you have arranged private help so the discharge plan reflects it. Our caregivers are W-2 employees who pass criminal background checks, ChildLine clearance and TB screening and complete competency training before they are assigned. When you are ready, request an in-home consultation.