NEW YORK CITY, March 17– Older adults overwhelmingly want to stay at home as they age, but this requires an increased need for medical and social services. The New York Academy of Medicine’s (NYAM) Health Care Delivery Lecture series helped answer some of these questions in its presentations held at the Academy on Tuesday, March 11. Panelists Fredda Vladeck, MS, Project Director, Aging in Place Initiative, United Hospital Fund; Patricia Volland, MSW, MBA, Director, Social Work Leadership Institute, The New York Academy of Medicine; and Susan Reinhard, MSN, PhD, Director, AARP Public Policy Institute discussed “Better Community Support for Older Persons.”
“Older adults have health related issues and human resource related issues – this is a complex, almost impossible process to navigate. In the session, we all came together to approach older adult independence in different ways,” said Ms. Volland. “It is timely in that we, at NYAM, are involved in the initiative to make NYC a better place to age. This session touched on what is needed to develop broad models of care that support this plan.”
Several models were presented including a new housing-based model for “Aging in Place” that was tested in New York City, which integrates health and social services to promote wellness, self-care and prevention. Another, the family model, focuses on family caregivers and seeing to their needs and education in order to work efficiently with the health care providers.The health care model looks at how health care providers work with, and accommodate aging populations.
“The family caregivers often have other jobs and children to take care of. Health care models need to take the emotional and physical needs of these people in account,” said Ms. Reinhard. Ms. Reinhard looked at combining the family centered model with the health care provider model. “The family centered model is what we call the family unit, the people in the family that are the caregivers. If we cultivate and educate the family caregivers so they can effectively interact with providers, the family caregivers can be taken care of themselves and not become patients, enabling the aging adults who need care, to stay in their homes.”
Aging is one of the central themes across NYAM with several projects taking place. In June, 2007 a partnership with the City Council, NYAM launched the Age-Friendly NYC initiative, guided by a protocol developed by the World Health Organization to assess the city’s age-friendliness in eight key areas from housing to transportation. In the spring a blueprint for improvement will be presented as recommendations for policy makers.
The Health Care Delivery Section at NYAM will host two more lectures this spring, “Transitions in Care” on April 22 and “The Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans” on May 19.
The New York Academy of Medicine is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit institution whose mission is to enhance the health of the public. Its research, education, community engagement, and evidence-based advocacy seek to improve the health of people living in cities, especially disadvantaged and vulnerable populations. The impact of these initiatives reaches into neighborhoods in New York City, across the country, and around the world. It works with community based organizations, academic institutions, corporations, the media, and government to catalyze and contribute to changes that promote health.
Posted on 03/17/2008
Contact:
Malini Doddamani
Director of Communications
mdoddamani@nyam.org
212.822.7285
