Discovering The Mature Lifestyle
So what is Medicare anyway? Page 3
Medicare & Insurance
October 20 & 21, 2016
October Issue
North Memorial offers TotalCare program for seniors BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Senior citizen patients at North Memorial Health Care qualify for the TotalCare for Seniors program. The program’s geriatric specialists work with seniors and their families to provide post-hospital services, through long-term care, Transitional Care Units, assisted living, indep endent li ving o r hosp ice s ettings. “When a pa tient is dis charged, if t hey need transitional care, they are referred by a p rimary ca re p rovider to a n urse p ractitioner, who follows them into long-term care,” s aid Teresa B loom, ma nager o f t he TotalCare program. Patient c are is ma naged o nsite, a t t he facility where the client lives. Physicians a nd n urse p ractitioners work as a team to provide the care at the patients’ choice of 13 facili ties w hen they leave the hospital.
TotalCare for Seniors is available at the following facilities: Annandale Health & C ommunity, Annandale Centennial V illa A ssisted Li ving, A nnandale Colonial Acres Health C enter, G olden Valley Good Sa maritan Am bassador, N ew Hope Good Samaritan Robbinsdale, Robbin-
Heading North Memorial Health Care’s TotalCare for Seniors program in Robbinsdale are, from left: Teresa Bloom, manager of the TotalCare program; Dr. Joseph Sicora, medical director; and Sarah Johnson, nurse practitioner. (Submitted photo) sdale Maranatha, Brooklyn Center North Ridg e H ealth & Reha b, N ew Hope Pioneer Est ates A ssisted L iving, Eden Prairie St. Therese, New Hope St. Therese – Oxbow, Brooklyn Park The Birches at Trillium Woods, Pl ymouth The V illa a t S t. L ouis P ark, S t. L ouis Park The Villa at Osseo, Osseo
Transitional Care by St. Ther ese, Robbinsdale Wellstead of Rogers, Rogers Clients a t T CUs a re visi ted o nce o r twice weekly, w hile patients in lo ng-term care are visited monthly. Those in assisted living a nd indep endent li ving a re visi ted every three to six months. Visits a re s cheduled in b etween if t he client is ill. “We have 500 patients in t he program, and it’s growing rapidly,” said Sarah Johnson, one of nine nurse practitioners in the
program. J ohnson s aid t he p rogram includes three physicians. Dr. J oseph S icora is medical dir ector of North Memorial Home & C ommunity Services, which includes TotalCare for Seniors, as w ell as H ome Health, a nd Hospice and Palliative Care. He also is medical director a t S t. Therese in N ew H ope a nd St. Therese Oxbow Lake in Brooklyn Park. “North Memorial always has taken care of patients in nursing homes,” Sicora said. “The last three years we have structured it better s o do ctors a nd n urse p ractitioners work as a team. A lot of facilities ask us to help take care of their residents. We have to f ocus o ur r esources o n t he p laces w e work c losely wi th t o co ntinue t o deli ver high-quality service.” TotalCare for S enior s erves p ost-acute people in r ehab, t hose w ho ha ve b een in the hosp ital a nd need sho rt-term r ehab before they’re ready to return home. They also serve as a p rimary care provider for those who are too frail or elderly t o co me t o t he c linic, o r w ho ha ve no transportation. “There are a lot of health care facilities trying t o figure o ut ho w t o t ake ca re o f these people,” Sicora said. North M emorial als o is o ne o f a f ew hospitals s tatewide t o offer a n in patient Collaborative A cute C are f or t he E lderly (CACE) uni t t o addr ess t he ac ute ca re needs of frail, aging adults. It a lso o ffers home health care, as wel l as hosp ice su pport t o pa tients a nd lo ved ones w ho a re facin g a t erminal illness, death and dying.