PROVIDENCE – Lifespan Corp.’s three largest hospitals have joined a national movement to improve and customize health care for older patients.
Rhode Island Hospital, along with The Miriam and Newport hospitals, is participating in the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, a program launched in 2017 by The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
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The initiative’s core elements include tailoring care around each older patient’s preferences, a focus on prevention and treatment of dementia and depression, safe movement and attention to medications and side effects.
“The Miriam Hospital has a long history of meeting the needs of older patients,” said Maria Ducharme, The Miriam’s president. “We have hired physicians who are expert gerontologists, provided special training for our nurses and nursing assistants, and supported programs designed uniquely for the care of elders.”
Lifespan says that as it rolls out the program, its providers will focus on “mobility, volunteer support, doll therapy, geriatric resource nurse training and medication alerts.”
According to the health system, it joins hundreds of other facilities across the country in implementing the initiative, which was launched in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United States.
“We want our older patients and their families to know that we are aware of their unique needs and continually refining our abilities to respond to them,” said Crista F. Durand, president of Newport Hospital.
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.
