Innovative Program to Keep Elder Adults Healthy Created

Yale School of Medicine
Wednesday, 22 September 1999

The Tower One/Tower East housing complex and Yale School of Nursing are creating a program that will enable residents to stay healthier and protect their rights and well-being as they move through an increasingly complex health care system.

Supported by a $100,000 grant from the Tower One Foundation, YSN will establish the ElderPrime Community Program for Tower residents. Conceived and primarily funded by Jay Vlock, a founder of Tower One, the Tower One Foundation has invested in innovative programs to improve the lives of elderly residents.

Membership in the ElderPrime Community Program will entitle residents to regularly access a gerontological nurse practitioner (GNP) on the YSN faculty. The GNP will routinely assess residents' health in their apartments, provide them with health promotion information and will serve as an advocate for members who are hospitalized or admitted to subacute facilities.

Nurse practitioners receive advanced training, usually at the master's level, allowing them to provide primary patient care and prescribe medications. They approach patient care from a holistic, health promotion perspective. Gerontological nurse practitioners are specially trained in the primary health care needs of older adults.

"Research has shown that older adults are vulnerable when they move from hospital to home and can benefit from good advanced nursing care," said Dr. Courtney Lyder, coordinator of YSN's gerontological nurse practitioner program and program director. "But what no one has addressed is the vulnerability of older adults when they enter the hospital or subacute facilities, typically very complex organizations. A GNP, particularly one with an ongoing relationship with the resident, can assess what's normal for that resident and can intervene when the hospital's interventions are hurting, rather than helping."

Tower One Foundation Vice President Linda Kantor said that it was very fitting that the program be a joint venture between the Towers and YSN.

"The Towers has served as a national model since its construction, proving that a Housing and Urban Development building can be a beautiful and responsive community," said Kantor. "YSN has a long history of expanding the scope of advanced nursing practice to support independence and promote health. Together we're providing a unique service to help Tower residents both maintain good health and to return to healthy independence should they become ill. This seamless system of care and advocacy is not now offered anywhere in the country -- possibly the world. We hope, however, that more communities will adopt this model once we demonstrate its ability to promote health and reduce repeat hospitalizations."

YSN Dean Catherine Gilliss sees the project as yet another way for her school to partner with the surrounding community.

"Educating nurses for advanced practice and research is a fundamental element of the Yale School of Nursing training," said Gilliss. "This project at Tower One/Tower East provides YSN students with an opportunity for substantive research, for hands-on practical monitoring of elderly patients and for essential experience in the sensitive process of an elderly person's transition from home to hospital or subacute care."

For more information, or to contact Yale School of Medicine, see their website at: info.med.yale.edu/ysm/