PERRYVILLE – Perry County Health System (PCHS) was recently recognized as an Age-Friendly Health System.
PCHS is leading the way in making sure that every day, every older adult receives age-friendly health care. As part of the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement, they are among the first health systems in the country implementing age-friendly health care.
According to the US Census Bureau, the US population aged 65+ years is expected to nearly double over the next 30 years. Due to this, Janice Lundy, Director of Social Work and Geriatric Care Management, spearheaded this movement at PCHS in 2019.
In 2020, PCHS became an Age-Friendly Health Systems Participant. After implementing the four essential elements of an Age-Friendly System, Perry County Health System is now an Age-Friendly Health System.
The four essential elements of care for older patients are known as the 4Ms and include:
- What Matters: Know and align care with each older adult’s specific health outcome goals and care preferences including, but not limited to, end-of-life care, and across settings of care.
- Medication: If medication is necessary, use Age-Friendly medication that do not interfere with What Matters to the older adult, Mobility, or Mentation across settings of care.
- Mentation: Prevent, identify, treat, and manage dementia, depression, and delirium across settings of care.
- Mobility: Ensure that older adults move safely every day in order to maintain function and do What Matters.
Janice Lundy further explained, “An Age-Friendly Health System focuses on evidence-based interventions specifically designed to improve care for older adults. Through this program, we are working to make care for older adults even more tailored to patients’ goals and preferences while being consistently of high quality.”