Quality Care for the Older People

The growing number of the elderly population in most developed countries has brought up a number of issues regarding the quality of care provided to the elderly, regardless whether they are accommodated into an institutional placement, placed with foster families or in their own home. The quality of this care, the cost of social and health care for the elderly people, the question of improving the quality of their life, accountability, and sustainability of the long-term social welfare and ensuring geriatric health care for this population group has become one of the nation’s priorities. Thanks to his rich experience in the healthcare industry, Elly Kleinman, Americare Companies CEO, has come up with several theories that explain the current situation.

While in the last decades, even the most developed countries tried to deal with this concern by assuring a longer stay for the older in their own home, with the development of social services and health care organizations such as the one lead by Elly Kleinman, institutional accommodation has become a more frequent solution to this concern. Between these two solutions, people from the healthcare industry try to raise increasing awareness of the need to develop both approaches, with a special focus on gerontology centers, and in certain cases accommodation of elderly people in foster care as a replacement for their own home.

The issue of quality long-term care for the elderly differs from state to state, as well as within cities, and the quality of service often does not meet the needs of the individuals. There are numerous examples that speak volumes about the lack of quality services in all three models: inadequate accommodation, inability to maintain social contacts, disrespect of privacy, failure to comply with the individual needs of the healthy elderly and so on. None of the models have fully developed systems quality assurance or embedded system of quality assessment, based on scientifically established criteria. The system which Mr. Kleinman has implemented at Americare allows assessment of the quality of care that is currently provided, and as such, provide effective support for a strategy that would improve the quality of care.

However, as Kleinman says, it is also necessary to point out the efforts made by the authorities, who continue to fight this battle, determined to develop a more efficient system that would serve as an example for many years to come.

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