Elderly Care Center (ECC)
(75 beds)
The Elderly Care Center at the Geriatric Medical Center is composed of three single-gender units that provide care for 75 elders (1 unit of 30 beds is now functional), and its capacity will increase to 150 elders in the near future. The Elderly Care Center offers long-term medical and nursing services to elderly patients above 60 years old from across Lebanon, with the following objectives:
- Optimizing the elderly’s health.
- Providing the best comprehensive services for all medical problems.
- Improving the function of elders to maximize their independence through individual and group rehabilitation.
- Assisting residents with day-to-day activities through nursing services, as well as recreational and social activities.
- Developing a comprehensive nutritional plan for all residents to avoid malnutrition.
- Building expertise of health care practitioners (physicians, nurses, therapists…) in the field of geriatrics and gerontology, and providing a research platform.
- Ensuring that aging is a process of life development and an opportunity for intergenerational interaction.
The Elderly Care Center aims at preserving and improving the elder’s health and wellbeing. This is achieved through a 24-hour medical and nursing care coverage, rehabilitation, social assistance, psychological services, and recreational activities.
Activities
Medical care
Each elder is provided with care that meets the international standards and medical care best practices. The ECC residents are evaluated by a multidisciplinary team (physician, nurses, physical therapist, dietician…) that aims to provide the elders with a comprehensive care plan that fits his/her needs. The medical care of each elder is supervised by a Geriatrician and residents training in geriatrics from the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese University on monthly basis, and as often as necessary to address their medical care needs.
Nursing care
Nurses play key roles in ECC. Our nurses strive to provide the elderly with the greatest extent of respect, humanity, professionalism, quality care, and integrity along with a comfortable companionship.
Nutritional services
It includes assessing the ECC resident’s dietetic and nutritional plan, continuous supervision of the dining and snack programs, consistent and effective methods of measuring performance (e.g., monitoring nutritional status, screening risk of malnutrition, resident’s weight…), ongoing evaluation of each resident’s care plan and ensuring appropriate corrective actions are taken and documented as required.
Physical Therapy
The objective of rehabilitation and physical therapy in ECC is the promotion of care and the physical function of older adults. This is achieved through the application of programs and activities to prevent and treat anatomic and physiological dysfunctions and to provide rehabilitation to patients suffering from functional deficits.
Psychiatric Services
Elders need to feel safe, remain close to other people and believe that their life continues to be meaningful. Emotional care helps the older adult to deal with vulnerability, loneliness, boredom, isolation and make him/her feel well about himself/herself. Our staff is caring, well trained and experienced in dealing with all these situations.
Social and Recreational Services
Social and recreational activities are considered a priority to keep residents engaged, entertained, and active to the fullest extent possible. Social and recreational activities are an important aspect of our services and are tailored to meet our residents’ needs and interests. We strive to ensure that all residents participate in these activities. Besides, they help the elderly in maintaining their social role, as well as spreading the culture of giving, cooperation, and caring for the elderly in our society.
Social and recreational activities include but are not limited to:
- Music therapy
- Dance
- Laughter yoga
- Birthday celebrations
- Holiday celebrations (Grand Parents day…)
- Field trips
- Social gatherings
- Cards
Social and recreational activities are diverse and are highly supported by a team of dedicated volunteers. The Volunteering Program is formed to improve the quality of services that the organization provides, promote and increase community involvement, and enrich the lives of the ECC residents while offering personalized support to each individual.
ECC is in great need of more volunteers who would be dedicated to the center and would be willing to be part of the life of our residents. Volunteers will participate in regular activities inside and outside the center, as well as in the organization of festivities and fundraising. All interested volunteers can complete a Volunteer Application Form and proceed through a selection process to be part of our community.
Admitting Older Adults to the ECC
If you wish to be admitted or to admit an older adult to the ECC, you must first check that you meet the admissions criteria and then complete an application form at the center. A member of the team will contact you to take it from there. Currently, admissions to ECC are suspended.
Criteria for Admission:
- The older adult should be over 60 years old.
- The older adult requires frequent medical or nursing care and cannot live independently at home.
- The older adult’s psychological, mental, social, and medical conditions define their priority of admission.
Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit G.E.M.
(20 beds)
Geriatric Evaluation and Management is offered through our specialized 20-bed unit providing acute medical care to older patients in need of hospitalization due to acute illnesses not requiring surgical or intensive care unit services. Common diseases that are dealt with in the G.E.M include: heart failure, stroke, pneumonia, acute kidney injury, uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes mellitus, urinary tract infections, diarrhea, dehydration, weight loss, and pressure ulcers.
Patients are evaluated by a multidisciplinary team including a geriatrician, residents training in geriatrics, geriatric nurse specialist, physical therapist, psychologist, social worker, and dietician. This comprehensive evaluation aims to identify all the medical problems that elders suffer from and provides a plan of care to resolve these issues. These patients are then offered follow-up care in the Geriatric Outpatient Clinics. Additionally, the unit offers educational classes to patients and their families on multiple topics of relevance.
Potential candidates for the GEM:
- Elders aged 70 and above suffering from an acute illness requiring hospitalization such as pneumonia, UTI, other infections, dehydration and who do not require the services of special units such as (CCU, ICU, or surgical intervention), and who are deemed stable by the Geriatric team to be in such a unit.
- Elders aged 70 and above, who need further hospital care following admission to the intensive care unit.
- Alzheimer’s patients who need acute hospitalization irrespective of age.
- Long-term care patients who suffer from an acute illness necessitating hospitalization.
- Geriatric clinic patients who need acute hospital care.
About The Geriatric Outpatient Clinics
(4 clinics)
The Geriatric specialty clinics offer comprehensive medical care to older adults suffering from common medical illnesses, psychosocial stressors, or in need of special nutritional or rehabilitation assessments. Specialists in geriatrics provide medical care for common medical problems, in addition to cognitive and mood assessment, preventive medicine, exercise counseling, assessment for dementia (memory loss) and depression, as well as pain management. Additional assessments include falls, pressure ulcers, incontinence, and cognitive dysfunction.
Geropsychiatry
(4 rooms)
In preparation to introduce a specialized unit for psychogeriatric services, four rooms have been designed and equipped according to national and international standards, in the summer of 2016, to accommodate residents with geropsychiatry care needs, until the dedicated unit is launched. These rooms are designed to ensure patient safety and security.
Home Palliative Care
Ain Wazein Medical Village, with the support of the MOPH and WHO, and in collaboration with SANAD, has developed a home palliative care program that was launched in 2019. The Home Palliative Care Program aims at providing high-quality home-based care services to patients suffering from an incurable, progressive, life-threatening illness and whose goals of care are palliative/hospice care (i.e., not curative care). Home Palliative Care is more than the provision of medical relief from pain and other distressing symptoms; it encompasses the psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual aspects of end-of-life care.
The Home Palliative care program aims at providing care at home whenever the home environment is preferred over unwanted hospital admissions. Our committed and qualified team consists of a palliative care physician, palliative care registered nurses, psychologist, and social worker.
Trained physicians and RNs are available to provide home palliative care services, but the program is postponed until we have a special fund from the Ministry of Public Health. However, patients who are covered by other insurance programs can contact us at extension 7047 for further clarification regarding the financial issues.
Criteria of Referral to Home Palliative Care Program
- Any patient aged 18 and above and suffering from an incurable, progressive, life-threatening illness (end-stage cancer, end-stage dementia, end-stage heart failure; end-stage liver failure; end-stage renal failure (not on renal replacement therapy); end-stage lung diseases, frail elderly, etc.…).
- The patient’s primary physician has determined that the patient is at an advanced and/or terminal stage of the disease with poor prognosis of less than 6 months, preferably 2 months, and requires hospice care/end-of-life care.
- The patient’s condition requires the involvement of the home palliative care team in his/her care in order to manage symptoms at home and to improve the quality of life and avoid hospitalizations.
- The patient lives in Al-Chouf area.
Palliative Care Unit
(8 beds)
Being run as a national model in a pilot phase, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), the World Health Organization (WHO), and SANAD, the Coma and Palliative Care Unit provides medical, nursing, social, and psychological care for patients who suffer from incurable or chronic illnesses that are no longer responding to curative medical treatment. A specialized interdisciplinary team is responsible for the patient’s medical and nursing care.
The Palliative Care Unit offers:
- Management of difficult symptoms: pain, breathing difficulties, nausea, constipation, loss of appetite, fear, anxiety, confusion, depression, and more.
- Addressing the patient’s changing needs and goals: The palliative care team elicits and incorporates patient/family’s preferences into medical decision-making and adjusts care plans accordingly.
- Coordination of care throughout the illness: The palliative care team explores the patient’s values and beliefs and provides guidance regarding available treatment options.
- Education: Provide the patient and his/her family with specific information about his/her current health status, clinical condition, diagnosis, prognosis, and disease trajectory.
- Emotional support: Palliative care provides patients and their families with emotional and psychological support; thus allowing the patient and his family to understand his/her health condition and how to cope with it.