Hospital Corner

Too many times in life, an event leads to an abrupt change in a reactive manner versus proactive, planned approaches to change. Sometimes this is hard to avoid but in the case of choosing to “age in place,” most people will tell you that they want to remain in their homes and community with many feeling that this is completely feasible, and the good news is that studies support this idea. AARP’s most recent survey of adults age 50 and over revels that 76% want to remain in their homes as long as possible, and that only 5% of the 65+ population will ever live in a nursing home or skilled nursing facility. There is also support in that statistic that 24% of the population would like to move into an assisted living facility with amenities that will ease the burden of aging without losing privacy or independence.

The national trend shows that 80% of elderly people receiving assistance, including many with functional limitations, live in private homes in the community and not in institutions. The State of Washington is very progressive in support of people aging in their homes by supporting home care and non-institutional care-based program hours. An individual living with one or two disabilities can receive up to eight hours of in-home support and those living with three or more may receive up to 11 hours of support.

Your health system has been developing and deploying programs for the last few years to assist our community members meet their goal of remaining in their community and in their homes. We support several programs including:

-Participation in the Star-C program dedicated to helping people caring for family members with Alzheimer’s or related Dementia.

-The Senior, SAIL program, Stay Active and Independent for Life, through our local Senior Center.

-We provide meals through our dietary department for Meals on Wheels, and

-We have recently taken on the foot health program for Columbia County.

In addition, we support Washington State’s Aging and Long-Term Care Home Health program, and we have built a robust Palliative Care team in support of those living with chronic illness.

As an organization dedicated to providing aging and long-term care services, we recognized a deficiency in our community that does not exist in more urban settings. We do not have any assisted-living facilities in support of those who either choose to not age in their own private residence, or for those that can no longer age at home safely, but that do not meet a nursing-home criteria for admission. This is an important service line that helps people remain in the communities they love while remaining as independent as possible.

Our board of directors recently participated in a business case presentation for the Health System detailing potential partnerships to create several assisted-living cottages. The board requested that administration move forward with finding potential partners and secure agreements to operate an assisted living community of up to seven, individual homes, each with 10 private bed and bathrooms. Homes could be tailored to specific needs; as an example, one Cottage could be built to accommodate residents with memory related impairments.

We are excited to do this work and provide additional information to the community as we move along in this journey. The assisted-living facilities will greatly complement our existing skilled-nursing services for those aging with the highest-care needs. The addition of this service will allow us to care for even more residents choosing to remain in the communities they love.