Q&A
Q&A on preparing for cognitive care needs of the elderly
0:34:30
·
169 sec
Council Member Amanda Farías inquires about Health + Hospitals' preparation for the growing number of elderly individuals requiring cognitive care. The nominees discuss potential strategies to address this challenge.
- Dr. Espiritu suggests repurposing infrastructure and collaborating with community organizations
- Ms. Rodriguez emphasizes the need for increased nursing staff, long-term care facilities, and community partnerships
- Both nominees stress the importance of home care and community-based solutions
Amanda Farías
0:34:30
Just for both of you to answer, you both were asked about care for people with all timers and the HMH system.
0:34:37
Many people in New York City who live alone won't be able to manage care for themselves and won't be able to afford the luxury memory care facilities provided by private companies.
0:34:46
What should HMH be doing now to prepare for the massive growth of people requiring long term cognitive supervision?
Michael Espiritu
0:34:57
I think, you know, it's a it's a very important question, a very important potential crisis that that we'll have to deal with.
0:35:08
I think we'll need to see what if there look at our infrastructure and see if there is space that may be repurposed or potentially that is potentially underutilized and may be repurposed to help provide some care for memory, memory care for aging and dementia patients.
0:35:30
I think it's going to be important to collaborate with a lot of community organizations that are there on
Keith Powers
0:35:39
the
Michael Espiritu
0:35:39
ground assisting with the elderly and and patients with dementia because I think that's where a lot of the A lot of the help is going to come from is the community organizations that and potentially other private partner or potential private partners that are able to go into the homes and provide some care and therapy.
Vanessa Rodriguez
0:36:05
So I think maybe in the next 10 to 15 years, right, the those that are in the baby boomers may possibly be in that time frame of, you know, having some memory loss or full Alzheimer's.
0:36:20
And I think that we need to think about who's going to care for them and who's gonna help care for them.
0:36:26
So, yes, collaborating with home care facilities you getting more more nursing onboard, getting more long term and short term facilities because there are gonna be people who don't have family members that will be able to assist and help them with the deal day to day living for these folks.
0:36:52
So I do think that really collaborating with the community seeing where their needs are and being able to get, you know, not only the hospitals, but the community health centers and their nursing, home health aids, the case managers really onboard to help these folks be able to, you know, still live still live normal.
0:37:19
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