Ascension Health Senior Care is cited in a new story about care of persons with dementia in Health Progress, a publication of the Catholic Health Association of the United States. Ascension Health Senior Care is offered as an example of how health systems are ramping up efforts to integrate their facilities and harness both financial and intellectual capital around population health management by uniting the majority of its senior-focused programs.
The article includes Mark Frey, President and CEO of Alexian Brothers Health System, who leads Ascension Health Senior Care. Frey says Ascension aims to “capitalize on the intellectual capital we already have” and begin to spread best practices in senior care across the system. The article also notes how the needs of caregivers are a priority for Ascension Health Senior Care.
“It isn’t good enough just to bring them together in a support group and say, ‘Gee, this is tough,’” Frey is quoted as saying. Help includes education on the reality of dementia and setting expectations, encouraging family to remain active participants in care “when they may look at their mother or father and realize their parents no longer remember who they are,” he says.
Ascension Health Senior Care is the second-largest not-for-profit long-term care provider in the United States, overseeing 5,568 senior care/senior living beds and three PACE programs totaling 725 enrollees.
