October 12, 2015 – Service for Elders

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Anchor lead: Older people need to advocate for healthcare services they need, Elizabeth Tracey reports

The range of healthcare services needed by older adults, especially when they’ve just been discharged from the hospital, is broad, a recent Johns Hopkins study led by Alicia Arbaje, a geriatrics expert, has shown.  Arbaje and colleagues developed a Senior Care Services Scale, which demonstrates a national disconnect between where older adults live and where services are found.  Arbaje comments.

Arbaje:  Older adults do need and deserve special services tailored towards them.  And I use the comparison of pediatrics.  You wouldn’t think about having an adult doctor treating a pediatric patient.  It’s really important for older people to think of themselves in the same way.  They have special needs and special concerns. I would ask older adults to feel empowered about asking for that and asking for those services.  If they do have a choice as to where they can go for their health care, they can see whether that healthcare system offers some of the services that we identified in the Senior Care Services Scale.   :31

At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.