Posted: January 17, 2012
Agency on Aging to introduce 1-stop medical facility
By JOHN MATUSZAK - H-P Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, December 29, 2011 1:07 PM EST
ST. JOSEPH - The Area Agency on Aging's St. Joseph office will be the world's first location of what is being hailed as a major advance in health care for senior citizens, developed over the last two years by a local dentist.
The agency's Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly, or PACE, at 2900 Lakeview, will be the site of the first Aleydis Center, a full clinic at which clients can receive services from primary care to medical specialties such as dentistry, podiatry and optometry, all in one location.
The Aleydis Center was created by Dr. Stuart Boekeloo, a Benton Township resident and St. Joseph dentist. He called the concept "revolutionary."
Christine Vanlandingham, fund and project development officer for the Area Agency on Aging's Region IV office, called the inclusion of the clinic the "crown jewel" of the agency's ongoing $3.5 million renovation project.
The Aleydis Center will be installed in January and will be operational by July 1, when renovations are expected to be completed, Vanlandingham said.
The medical facility will be available to around 200 PACE health center clients, who will obtain medical and social services, receive meals and take part in social activities during the day before returning to their homes at night. Local doctors will be contracted to provide care at the Aleydis Center.
The 10-by-12-foot medical clinic will be installed in a 6,000-square-foot former gymnasium that is being refurbished for use by PACE clients.
Offering a number of medical specialties in one place eliminates the need for seniors to shuttle from one doctor's office to another, Vanlandingham explained.
Seniors who don't drive will often forgo a trip to the doctor because they don't want to ask family or friends for a ride. The Aleydis Center will improve access to health care for these patients, who can even socialize or have lunch between appointments.
Better access to doctors means better health for seniors.
The average number of prescriptions taken by clients who enrolled in Muskegon PACE dropped from 22 to eight as their health improved, Vanlandingham said.
With the Aleydis Center "we expect greater results than that," she added.
The Aleydis facilities are designed specifically for older patients.
The exam table, for example, is built at wheelchair height, unlike the table in a typical doctor's office, Boekeloo pointed out.
He first hit on the idea of a one-stop location for senior care while providing dental services at assisted living facilities. At one of those Boekeloo had to treat patients in the hair salon. He found similar conditions at other sites he toured around Michigan.
"People in prison get better access to health care treatment than seniors," Boekeloo said.
As he began his research Boekeloo was surprised to find that no one else had hit on such a simple but needed service.
According to the Area Agency on Aging, 9 million Americans over 65 this year will need long-term care, a number that will only grow with the graying of the baby boomers.
Almost all of the people want to stay in their own homes, making day programs such as PACE necessary.
Physicians, dismayed about providing care in settings that did not meet medical licensing standards, are excited about the availability of a private, sterilized and standardized clinic, Boekeloo said.
He had always wanted to see the first Aleydis Center, named for the patron saint of the blind and paralyzed, open in Berrien County, and the renovated PACE Center provided the perfect opportunity.
He has a showroom in Versailles, Ohio, and the St. Joseph site will mean "having a showroom in our own backyard," Boekeloo said.
Even before the center has been installed, Vanlandingham is receiving calls from senior centers interested in the concept.
Legislators are coming around to the idea.
Boekeloo said six Michigan senators introduced a bill in October that would mandate multi-care treatment rooms in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Boekeloo said he is talking with the country's largest operator of assisted living facilities about purchasing Aleydis Centers.
He has a patent pending on the concept.
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