Loring Hospital in Sac City is pleased to announce that it is part of a movement to improve health care for older adults, contributing to a goal of continuing to expand and grow age-friendly care. It was the first hospital in the State of Iowa to be recognized as an Age-Friendly Health Systems participant.
As part of the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United States, are helping health care organizations like Loring Hospital implement a set of evidence-based interventions specifically designed to improve care for older adults.
The initiative is based on a series of practices focused on addressing four essential elements, otherwise known as the “4Ms,” of care for older patients:
- 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 medications 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.
“I believe in taking the time to get to know patients on a personal level, and that every patient deserves to be treated like they are family,” says Jamie Bloyer, who is the quality manager at Loring Hospital and was instrumental in getting the initiative off the ground. “The concept of Age-Friendly and the 4Ms takes this a step further and focuses on what your patient really cares about and their preferences/goals in life. I want every patient to feel valued and cared about as a whole person, and to know that they matter.”
Collaborative learning opportunities across the movement bring together health care teams committed to sharing data and improving together. All teams strive toward reliably implementing age-friendly best practices across hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, home health agencies, and primary and specialty care settings.
Loring now joins an international group of more than 5,200 health systems working to tailor care to patients’ goals and preferences and to deliver care that is consistently of the highest quality.
“Loring Hospital has always been on the forefront of patient care, and that’s why we are participating in this vital movement,” adds Matt Johnson, chief executive officer at Loring Hospital. “The Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative is an important part of our overarching vision to continually provide every patient who walks through our door with the best care possible.”