Evolving Senior Care

I would like to share this interesting article entitled "Evolving Senior Care" with credit to the author ... Molly Forrest. Senior care is a high priority issue in the USA and it is refreshing to see these signs of professional leadership in the field.
Robert E. Hoye, Ph.D.
Faculty Mentor
Health Services
Walden University



Evolving Senior Care
By Molly Forrest

The Los Angeles Jewish Home is designing innovative programs to meet the needs of seniors of all stripes.

Molly Forrest

What will senior care and housing look like in the 21st century?

For starters, we know that baby boomers are living longer and better (even with chronic medical conditions) than any generation in history. We also know that, as they have done their whole lives, they will question outdated approaches and expect a new era of awareness and action. These two factors create a new world of opportunities for hospitals and other health care providers that want to be part of the solution.

But today's economic climate is causing health care organizations of all stripes to hesitate before expanding services or branching off into uncharted waters. Yet that's exactly what must be done if we want to influence how senior care and senior living will evolve. At the Los Angeles Jewish Home, one of the foremost multilevel senior living communities in the United States, we realized that standing still was not a viable option and, as a result, we are now recognizing the benefits of creative planning and proactive program development.
New Undertakings

It's one thing to be open to new ideas; it's another to execute them and be willing to commit the resources—time, money and energy—to see them through. Even though we are a nearly century-old institution blessed with many emulated business practices and successful programs, we needed to look anew to serve a growing need in a changing world.

Despite the difficult economy that we're all feeling, the Jewish Home has recently launched new large-scale programs in hospice, psychiatric care and nursing education that we believe are central to the ongoing health and well-being of our organization. We've also taken a fresh look at how health care can and should be delivered to aging boomers. We believe that any new model must begin with the understanding that there will be a growing need for highly intensive medical, rehabilitative and health care services as society ages.

All of our recent development directly addresses clear community voids that we believe our organization is best positioned to fill in unique and innovative ways. Our Skirball Hospice program, for example, expands the Jewish Home's services beyond our two campuses by taking the compassion and dignity found in hospice care directly into a person's home, providing for the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of both patient and family during the end of life.

Our new Auerbach Geriatric Psychiatry Unit addresses the special needs of seniors in a setting that makes them feel comfortable, welcome and understood, with special emphasis paid to depression and other issues that often affect this population. Our Annenberg School of Nursing—highly unusual in an organization like ours—is helping train tomorrow's health care professionals as we do our part to address the nation's severe nursing shortage.

We've also launched the Brandman Centers for Senior Care, the name for our PACE development. PACE (the federal and state Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) aims to ensure that vulnerable seniors who choose to live at home can do so safely and securely while receiving coordinated and well-managed medical care, home assistance, personal needs care, meals and transportation services. With this development we believe that we have taken great strides toward providing exactly what the marketplace is telling us is needed. And, by doing so, we retain and strengthen our position as the regional leader in senior care and housing.
Lessons Learned

Our venture into new areas was driven by our organization's long-standing commitment to develop programs and services that balance the physical, medical and social well-being of those we touch. The insights we've gained from this experience are not unique to us or confined to senior care. Here are six lessons that might be helpful to other health care organizations:

Whatever you do and whatever innovations you develop, always remain true to your brand. Remember that your brand is your promise to your customers. It is what helps define your organization's unique characteristics. Never forget who you are. Never compromise your values, mission and heritage.

Look for partners who share your passion and commitment. We found other nonprofit organizations who believe as we do in the importance of treating all with the dignity and respect they've earned. What's more, they share our 21st-century vision of extending to the community the caring hands and compassionate hearts we have historically offered to our residents.

Where senior health is concerned, throw away any old notion that one size fits all. It doesn't. Often we simply bundle all older adults together into a category generically marked "senior" and expect everyone's needs will be met. Just as hospitals have become increasingly savvy in recent years in segmenting their consumer market, "seniors" and their needs must be segmented into multiple submarkets and programs planned accordingly.

This economic downturn is an opportunity to try new things and take intelligent risks. Nobody knows for sure what tomorrow's health care landscape will look like, but we do know that it will be different in the way costs are paid and services provided. That means that hospitals need to be open to change. The successful hospitals will be those that lead the change and don't just wait to be swept up in the current. In our case, we realized that by making the Jewish Home's medical specialties, geriatric services and wellness programs available to more of the community and not just the residents within our walls, we could have a positive impact in changing how elder care is accessed and specialized services are delivered.

Make sure that everyone is on the bus and make a compelling case for them to be there. That means working with a committed board, seeking and respecting the input of your community, involving your employees and helping everyone understand that new challenges mean exciting opportunities.

Finally, and most importantly, hospital CEOs and other health care leaders must recognize that the issues we collectively face are societal and that we are all in this together, along with the communities we serve. While these are momentous times, they also provide us with remarkable opportunities to enhance the life and wellness of those who often rely on us during their most vulnerable days of life.

We must seize these opportunities. There is no better time to begin than today.

Molly Forrest is a 35-year veteran of senior housing and health care and the chief executive officer and president of the Los Angeles Jewish Home.

This article 1st appeared on March 16, 2010 in HHN Magazine online site.