Center for Healthy Senior Living

Our wellness and preventive services help you maintain your health, independence and quality of life, such as through diet and exercise counseling, age-appropriate screening tests, treatment monitoring, vaccinations and fall-prevention education.

We provide complete primary care, including screening, diagnostic, treatment, monitoring and referral services. Our specialists help you manage your health and coordinate your care with other medical specialists.

We provide consultations for patients regarding clinical issues, chronic disease in older adults, geriatric syndromes and polypharmacy. We collaborate with other medical specialists to ensure that you receive the highest quality, personalized care.

Home health care is often appropriate for elderly patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), COPD, diabetes, orthopedic recovery, stroke, chronic kidney disease, wound care, dementia and behavioral health needs. Our services include: 

• Visiting skilled nurses
• Home rehabilitation – physical, occupational, and speech therapy
• Private and personal care
• Medical social workers
• Hospice and palliative care services
• Home health care advisors available to coordinate services and help you understand your benefits coverages
• Specialized post-discharge programs for orthopedics (joint replacement), cardiovascular, stroke or neurological conditions, and more
• Tele-health services to manage patients with chronic conditions
• Medical equipment, oxygen, CPAP, supplies, and more. 

We provide a full range of services to help you manage transitions between different healthcare settings — such as from the hospital to home, or from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility. Transition services include:

• Skilled nursing rehabilitation care. Our providers offer continual care in the acute and sub-acute facility leading to seamless care coordination. 
• Cognitive and memory care. Our experts will evaluate your cognitive functioning and develop a care plan that meets your needs.  
• Coordination of care. We work closely with physicians in a variety of specialty areas and healthcare settings to ensure that you receive collaborative, multidisciplinary care.
• Medication review and management. Our specialists will regularly review the medications you take and update your health records. We also offer expert medication management services designed to help you stay safe and healthy by preventing duplicate prescriptions and reducing the risk of harmful drug interactions.
• Palliative care. We provide supportive therapies to help you manage pain and other symptoms related to illness, injury or medical treatment.
• Physical function assessment and treatment. We offer expert assessment, recommendations and referrals for effective treatments.
• Treatment of multiple chronic illnesses. Our geriatric medicine specialists can safely and effectively treat multiple chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

If you are hospitalized, our geriatric medicine specialists will collaborate with your care team— including emergency department,  hospitalist, cardiology, trauma orthopedics, surgery and psychiatry — to ensure you receive the highest quality care. We also offer emergency and trauma consultations.

Hackensack University Medical Center’s Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) provides intervention for older adult patients to prevent and manage delirium should it occur during their hospitalization. 

We provide inpatient hospice care for patients who need aggressive symptoms management and are enrolled in hospice care.

Located within the Alfred N. Sanzari Medical Arts Building on the campus of Hackensack University Medical Center, the Center for Healthy Senior Living offers ambulatory/outpatient care to older adults. We help our patients manage chronic medical conditions in the context of physiological changes that happen with aging with emphasis on independence, community living and quality of life.

A geriatrician is a medical doctor who is specially trained to prevent and manage the unique and multiple health concerns of older adults 65 years and older. Geriatricians are particularly sensitive to the needs of older adults, helping them to maintain the highest level of functioning and quality of life.

A geriatrician can assist a specialist or primary care physician in the management and treatment of multiple, complex health issues in older adults.

We accept patients with or without a referral. However, your health plan may require you to get a referral from your primary doctor before seeing certain specialty providers. Your coverage, contract or benefit summary will identify services that require a referral. You can also call your insurance services department to verify when a referral is necessary.

Call 551-996-1140. The Geriatrics Center staff will make every attempt to schedule an appointment at a time that is convenient for you and your family.

Many patients find it helpful to make a list of their questions prior to their appointment. You may also find it helpful to bring a friend, family member or caregiver with you to take notes. You will also need to bring:

• Your Social Security card
• Any insurance cards and the name of the policyholder
• Your copay, as required by your insurance company
• Your medications, including prescription drugs in their original containers, over-the-counter drugs, supplements and herbal/natural remedies, patches, creams and vitamins
• Referral if indicated by your insurance carrier
• A copy of your advance directive or living will
• Eyeglasses, hearing aids and any other assistive listening devices you require
• Mobility devices, such as a walker, cane or special footwear.

Plan to spend approximately one hour in the office on the day of your appointment. Your doctor will review your medical and family health history, complete a physical exam and perform an assessment of:  

• Multiple medical problems
• Mental status and mood
• Memory disorders
• Osteoporosis
• Functional decline
• Medication management
• Falls
• Incontinence
• Vision/Hearing
• Mobility

Always ask questions when you don’t understand the meaning of a word or what is said, when instructions are not clear, or when medication information/medical tests need further explanation. We encourage you to make a list of your questions or concerns and any sensitive subjects you would like to discuss. Sensitive subjects may include memory problems, falling, fear of falling, depression, grief, urinary incontinence, family problems, use of alcohol or sexuality. Geriatricians are extremely sensitive to the needs of older adults and will help you address these concerns.

At the end of your appointment, the geriatrician will review with (and your family/caregivers with your permission) his or her findings, suggested goals of care, plan of treatment and recommendations.

Recommendations may include suggestions for managing medical or other problems, services to assist you and your caregivers in the home setting and information regarding programs, interventions, and available resources outside the home. 

You will also receive educational materials and information about caregiver counseling and education, if needed.

The geriatrician will take into consideration your personal values, preferences and financial implications when making recommendations for medical management and care.

The geriatrician will provide your primary care physician with a complete medical summary report, including his/her recommendations for improving your health, preventing complications, managing geriatric syndromes and other interventions to help you live as independently and safely as possible. Receiving the consultation results will enable your physician to help you follow through with the geriatrician’s recommendations.

If you must cancel your appointment, we would appreciate a minimum of 24 hours’ notice. If you do not come for this appointment without canceling you will be charged $25.00.

We accept all types of insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid. You may be required to pay a copay at the time of your appointment. Learn more. 

The Center for Healthy Senior Living is located at 360 Essex St, Hackensack, N.J., on the fourth floor of the Alfred N. Sanzari Medical Arts Building, Suite 401. We are above the Duane Reade, Starbucks and Bank of America.