About Senior Health
Summa Health Senior Health provides specialized medical care tailored to the unique needs and challenges faced by the aging population, typically those aged 65 and older. Our integrated approach to senior healthcare enhances quality, access and outcomes for this patient population. At Summa, we are committed to enhancing the overall health and well-being of older adults, with a focus on maintaining their independence and improving their quality of life.
Our care model is designed around four areas of focus:
- What Matters: Know and align care with each patient’s specific health outcomes goals and care preferences
- Medication: Use medication, if necessary, that does not interfere with What Matters to the patient, Mobility or Mentation
- Mentation: Prevent, identify, treat and manage dementia, depression and delirium across all settings of care
- Mobility: Ensure safe movement in one’s environment in order to maintain function and preserve independence
To support these focus areas, we provide:
- Thorough assessments of physical, mental and emotional health
- Management of multiple conditions
- Medication management
- Cognitive care
- Falls prevention
- Nutrition and weight maintenance guidance
The Senior Health team collaborates with other healthcare professionals, such as primary care, to provide holistic care for older adults. Our goals include:
- Keeping patients active and healthy in their homes
- Slowing down memory loss and maintaining quality of life
- Shorter hospital stays when they are needed
- Fewer return trips to the hospital
- Reduced emergency department visits
- Less medications associated with a high risk of side effects for seniors
- Fewer post-discharge permanent nursing home placements
Our team is renowned for advances made in the study of aging and the science of geriatric medicine. It serves as a model of care for dozens of other healthcare organizations nationwide.
Senior Health Services
Outpatient
Summa Health offers a number of coordinated clinical services on an outpatient basis as well as information and tools to help older adults optimize their health and improve day-to-day functioning.
Facility-Based Geriatric Care
Sometimes when an older patient leaves the hospital, they still require medical care, just not in a hospital setting. Summa Health’s Senior Health team works closely with many area nursing homes, skilled nursing units and assisted living facilities through our Post-Acute Care Division to provide transitional care for these patients.
Emergency Room Care
Many seniors have different healthcare requirements due to complex medical conditions. Those requirements still need to be addressed, even during an emergency. The Summa Health System—Akron Campus emergency room is staffed by clinicians and emergency medicine physicians who participate in ongoing geriatric education.
In Home Care
For patients with chronic, severe illnesses, we offer health services for some older patients in the convenience of their homes.
Inpatient Care
Older adults who require hospitalization often have multiple chronic health conditions that require special care. Our geriatric inpatient programs are specifically designed to meet these complex needs in a hospital setting.
When is it time to seek senior healthcare services?
Find out if you or a loved one may need to seek the help of a doctor who specializes in the treatment of older adults. Take the assessment; it only takes two minutes to complete.
Recognition
Summa Health’s Senior Health has been recognized for our continuous work to improve the quality of life of the patients we serve. Because of efforts to equitably provide effective, patient-centered, timely, safe and efficient care for the senior population, Summa Health has received the following awards and accreditations.
Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation
In 2023, Summa Health System – Akron Campus once again received Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation (GEDA) from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). The Akron Campus Emergency Department has achieved the bronze standard— Level 3 GEDA accreditation.
The GEDA is a voluntary program that identifies hospitals excelling in geriatric care. The accreditation displays how the Akron Campus recognizes that one-size emergency care does not fit all and demonstrates Summa Health’s focus on delivering the highest standards of emergency care for our communities’ older adults.
Age-Friendly
The Summa Senior Health Center achieved the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) designation for Age-Friendly in 2020.
Meet Our Team
Summa Health Senior Health is comprised of geriatricians, advanced practice providers, social workers and pharmacists trained in the care for older adults. Our team of experts is able to offer a broad breadth of knowledge and valuable expertise.
Specialty Training
As America ages, there will be an increased need for physicians who have the training and clinical experience needed to treat older patients. The U.S. is facing a serious shortage in the number of geriatricians with the skills and training required to effectively care for frail, complex older adult patients who have multiple chronic conditions. There also are critical shortages of geropsychiatrists, geriatrics nurse practitioners, pharmacists and other professionals with certifications in geriatrics.
Attracting sufficient numbers of potential healthcare professionals to the practice of geriatric medicine is a challenge. That’s why the following programs offered by Summa Health are so important:
- Geriatric medicine fellowships
- Hospice and Palliative medicine fellowships
- Pain Management and Palliative Care Pharmacy Residency Program
Resources
Care Stories
Gail Coup, Senior Health Patient Testimonial
Clarence Phillips, House Call Patient Testimonial
Locations
Summa Health Senior Health Center
Summa Health System – Akron Campus
75 Arch St, Suite G2
Akron, OH 44304
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Summa Health System – Barberton Campus
201 5th St NE, Suite 15
Barberton, OH 44203
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Summa Health Green Medical Center
1835 Franks Parkway
Uniontown, OH 44685
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Summa Health Wadsworth-Rittman Medical Center
195 Wadsworth Rd., Clinical Specialties Suite
Wadsworth, OH 44281
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Summa Health Physician House Calls Services
Summa Health System – Akron Campus
75 Arch St., Suite G2
Akron, OH 44304
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