Ford Family Wellness Center for Seniors Opens

Geriatric healthcare in the Southern Tier got a boost with the July 2023 opening of Binghamton University’s Ford Family Wellness Center for Seniors.

The newly constructed 4,300-square-foot facility at 27 Jennison Ave. in Johnson City, N.Y. — diagonally across from Binghamton’s Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences on the University’s Health Sciences Campus — is home to Guthrie Senior Care, a geriatric medical clinic operated by Guthrie Lourdes Hospital.

The new center also encompasses the work of Rene Conklin, MSW ’06, coordinator of senior services at the Decker School of Nursing. Through Decker’s Elder Services Program, Conklin and area geriatricians evaluate seniors with cognitive impairment or memory loss. For several years, the program has collaborated for those services with Jerome Mikloucich, DO, medical director of geriatrics at Guthrie Lourdes Hospital and medical director of Guthrie Senior Care.

“I provide comprehensive geriatric medical care, but my biggest focus is on patients with cognitive impairment,” Mikloucich explains. “I’m excited about this collaboration with Binghamton University. I think tying medicine and academics together is a really powerful tool.”

Evaluation is key

Since joining the Elder Services Program in 2006, Conklin has focused on conducting geriatric assessments, coordinating care for elderly patients and providing caregiver training and support.

Conklin starts the assessments with a home visit, during which she records the patient’s background and history, performs cognitive testing, assesses how well the individual is functioning in the home and identifies safety issues. She documents this data and compares it to a questionnaire the patient’s family or caregivers complete, which helps her determine the patient’s level of awareness.

That information is provided to Mikloucich. During the second phase of the evaluation, he interviews and examines the patient, performs neurological and muscle testing and assesses the patient’s gait and proprioception (sense of movement and body position).

Following any additional testing that may be required, Mikloucich develops the diagnosis. He reviews that carefully with the patient and family member/caregiver, then makes necessary referrals for therapy or other services.

“Our goal is to minimize unnecessary emergency room visits or hospitalizations and help patients live in the community and avoid nursing home admissions as long as it is safely possible,” Mikloucich says.

Conklin acknowledges that diagnoses can be difficult to cope with but encourages early evaluation.

“We can do more to assist patients and their caregivers the earlier we see them,” she explains. “We provide caregiver support, education and referrals to agencies. We help caregivers adjust so they know what to expect, how to respond and when an issue needs to be addressed. We support patients and caregivers for as long as they want us to.”

Better together

“Locating Guthrie Senior Care at our Ford Family Wellness Center for Seniors brings together Dr. Mikloucich’s medical practice, the care coordination that Rene Conklin provides and Decker’s academic programs in adult gerontology,” says Mario Ortiz, dean of Decker College. “It is unusual for an independent practice healthcare agency like Guthrie Lourdes and a public university to come together and collaborate in this manner all in one setting.”

“Collaborating with the University and being part of Binghamton’s campus sets [Guthrie Senior Care] clinic up to be at the forefront of providing state-of-the-art, comprehensive geriatric care,” Mikloucich says. He adds that nurse practitioners on Decker’s faculty will work at the clinic alongside those from his practice.

Expanding opportunities for students

Guthrie Senior Care is expected to serve as a clinical site for students in Decker’s nurse practitioner (NP) programs, particularly those in the adult-gerontological nursing specialty. “It’s also possible that NP students from our community health, family health and family psychiatric mental health specialties could rotate through the clinic as well,” says Nicole Rouhana, director of graduate nursing programs. “Undergraduate nursing students could also play a role, helping reduce the clinic’s workload while gaining valuable experience interacting with patients and their family members.”

“This collaboration gives Decker almost an on-site geriatric clinic, enabling us to strengthen the adult-geriatric content within our programs,” Ortiz says. “Our faculty and students can walk from the classroom across the street to care for people. That’s a unique structure that many nursing schools don’t have.”

Decker and Guthrie Lourdes are discussing adding students from disciplines such as pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and language pathology and social work, thereby expanding the scope of services provided at Guthrie Senior Care and the experiential learning opportunities for students.

“I like that the clinic is on Binghamton’s Health Sciences Campus, that it is part of an academic center,” Mikloucich says. “Taking the clinic out of the hospital setting changes its dynamics: There is an energy being with the students and faculty where learning occurs.”

Aiding the community

Having Guthrie Senior Care located in the Ford Family Wellness Center for Seniors “will significantly improve access to care in the community, enabling seniors in the Southern Tier to get care coordination, assessments and healthcare all in one setting,” Ortiz says.

“And, it’s important to bring high-quality geriatric care to a broader population,” Conklin adds. “Geriatric patients are a neglected group. They are often dismissed by healthcare workers, and they don’t deserve that.”

Mikloucich believes the new facility will help the community’s senior population and their caregivers feel supported, listened to and heard.

“I hope they see the clinic as a place to go and ask questions about aging or the syndromes that occur with aging,” he says. “If I don’t have the answers they need, we have many community providers working with us, and we’ll try to find the answers.”

Call Guthrie Senior Care at 607-798-5432 or Decker’s Elder Services Program at 607-777-6636 to access services. Both accept self-referrals and referrals from providers, community agencies or individuals.