3 days Ago By Abigail Van Buren
DEAR ABBY: As a 70-year-old who devoted her nursing career to improving care for older adults, I know what good care looks like. I’ve seen it and provided it. Good care is when “what matters most” to patients drives the entire treatment plan.
It’s age-friendly care that is informed by the medications we take, how easily we move, our mood and memory and our goals and preferences. Unfortunately, we’re not getting good care as often as we should. A poll my organization conducted with Age Wave found that only 11% of older adults give the U.
S. health care system a top grade. The survey also shows we value life in our years, not just years in our life.
It highlights a disconnect between the care older adults want and what they receive. The gaps are most pronounced for people of color, women and those who live in rural areas. Readers can learn about the care we want, deserve and can achieve at www.
johnahartford.org/crossroads. It’s time to transform health care for older adults.
I’m optimistic we can do it together. -- TERRY FULMER, PRESIDENT, THE JOHN A. HARTFORD FOUNDATION DEAR TERRY: Thank you for writing.
I am impressed at how well-funded and prudently managed your organization seems to be. Readers, in 2023, this organization gave out $28 million in grants and another $2 million for research. Their grantees included a wide range of think tanks, advocacy groups, hospital systems and medical associations.
If you are looking for an opportunity to get involved, visit the website Dr. Fulmer mentioned in her letter. If we want better care for older adults, we should all look into what it entails and how to see that we get it.
P.S. I am not affiliated with Dr.
Fulmer’s organization, or any organization mentioned in my column. Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.
DearAbby.com or P.O.
Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069..
