Generational health

The Generational Health Program pays special attention to our older patients to help them maintain function, dignity and independence throughout their health care journey. Through teamwork across departments and specialties, care team members initiate the most appropriate care plans with their patients and the community. The program identifies specific vulnerabilities, understands illness trajectory and incorporates age-friendly initiatives to maximize health care delivery across the continuum.

At Sharp Memorial, our teams are specialized to provide age-friendly care in a healing environment. These services include:

• Advanced illness management
  Often called AIM, care team members focus on goals of care, code status education, and determine what matters most to patients. They provide education and support to patients and their families in all different stages of chronic diseases. AIM also assists with education and resources for palliative and hospice care, and the transition to comfort-focused treatment if that is within the patient’s goals.

• Community relation
  Liaisons educate on community initiatives in connection to acute hospital services.

• Emergency care
  The Cushman Trauma and Emergency Department is uniquely certified to provide care for older adults, as accredited by the American College of Emergency Physicians.

• Geriatric surgery
  Our surgical program follows the standards of the American College of Surgeons and is designed to improve surgical care and outcomes for older adults.

• Healthy aging
  The Healthy Aging Team (HAT) uses an age-friendly framework called the 4Ms: what matters, medication, mentation (mental activity) and mobility. This program is used to help patients maintain functional and cognitive independence while in the hospital.

• John M. Sachs Family Center for Generational Health
  This new area of the emergency department focuses on generational health and is helping transform health care for generations to come.

• Medically appropriate care
  This multidisciplinary team supports patients, families and the care team during difficult decision making.

From nutrition services to surgical care, our multidisciplinary teams create a treatment plan tailored to your healthy aging goals. Our expert team includes :

• Care providers like physician assistants and nurse practitioners

• Case management workers

• Community liaisons

• General surgeons

• Lab clinicians

• Occupational and physical therapists

• Pharmacy technicians

• Primary care providers

• Registered dietitians

• Social workers

• Speech language pathologists

• Spiritual care specialists

Learn more about our Generational Health Program:

• Patient-centered care for older adults

• Guide to implementing generational health

• Generational health resource guide

• Generational health prehabilitation