Thanks to Diana C – Published in the Washington Post
Assisted-living communities too often fail to meet the needs of older people and should focus more on residents’ medical and mental health concerns, according to a recent report by a diverse panel of experts.
It’s a clarion call for change inspired by the altered profile of the population that assisted living now serves.
Residents are older, sicker and more compromised by impairments than in the past: 55 percent are 85 and older, 77 percent require help with bathing, 69 percent with walking and 49 percent with toileting, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Also, more than half of residents have high blood pressure, and a third or more have heart disease or arthritis. Thirty-one percent have been diagnosed with depression, at least 11 percent have a serious mental illness, and 42 percent have dementia or moderate-to-severe cognitive impairment.Advertisement
“The nature of the clientele in assisted living has changed dramatically,” yet there are no widely accepted standards for addressing their physical and mental health needs, said Sheryl Zimmerman, who led the panel. She’s co-director of the Program on Aging, Disability and Long-Term Care at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The report addresses this gap with 43 recommendations from experts including patient advocates, assisted-living providers and specialists in medical, psychiatric and dementia care that Zimmerman said she hopes will become “a new standard of care.”
A delphi panel?? These delphi (consensing experts) are, in alphabetical order:
2 advocates
2 lawyers
4 MDs
4 managers
2 psychiatrists
5 RNs
Now that these pros have assembled and weighed in on what Assisted Living should be, I call for a DELPHINIUM panel.
Let us learn the priorities of residents, prospective residents, family and friends, and frontline staff. Let the flowers bloom!
Please click on the link to the editorial by Kenneth Covinsky cited by the Post. Disregard the editorial’s title – NO one “Ensures ” much of anything in AL . But Covinsky’s observations speak volumes.