Contributed Post: How One Hospital Found Its Niche With Older Patients

When Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, MD, opened one of the nation’s first emergency departments designed to serve patients age 65 and older, they were answering a call from seniors to offer an experience tailored to their needs.

Geriatrician William H. Thomas, a professor of aging studies at the University of Maryland and creator of the Green House model that is transforming nursing facilities, helped Holy Cross design the ED. At a Green House, elders receive assistance and support with daily living activities and clinical care. But the assistance and care are not the focus of their existence. And that is the approach of this new concept.

Each patient has an uncluttered cubicle, with a comfortable chair for a family member or visitor. The mattresses are twice as thick as other ED beds and specially designed to prevent bedsores. Experts in lighting and audiology optimized the experience for aging eyes and ears. The walls are painted a warm gold, with wooden handrails for safe walking. Rather than linoleum, which can make for unsure footing, the floor is made of faux wood that offers better traction. Each patient has a television with a headset, a large-face clock, and overhead lighting controlled by a dimmer switch. There are just eight rooms, clustered near a small nurse’s station.

Staff members are trained in geriatrics, including techniques for communicating with patients who may be hearing-impaired or who process information slowly.

The senior emergency center is a first step in the hospital’s long-term plan to become known for serving older people. Holy Cross spent just $150,000 on its center, raised through an annual gala, to renovate an existing space and to train nursing staff.

Here are three things you can learn from Holy Cross:

1. In the rush to treat boomers and children, we often forget the most acute needs
   occur in the over 65 population. Holy Cross is carving out a great niche.
2. There are many best practices that we can learn from sister industries, such as long-term care.
3. Ultimately, it all comes down to the patient experience.

Marketing and planning professionals can play a pivotal role in identifying best practices and calling attention to them. You can initiate research to support great ideas; pass the baton to your organization’s foundation and ask them to run with it, and then tell the story when it is successfully implemented.