Providence ElderPlace West turns one year old April 13. Located on the second floor of Providence Mount St. Vincent, ElderPlace provides healthcare and social services for seniors who live in the West Seattle area. The program expanded into West Seattle as a response to the growth at its main facility, which opened in 1995 at 4515 Martin Luther King Jr. Way South. Both facilities now serve 413 people and add about 10 new participants per month.

"We serve a niche that is usually very underserved, those who very easily fall through the cracks in other medical systems," said Susan Disman, site coordinator. Providence ElderPlace West operates Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Although the location is in a retirement facility, "Participants generally don't reside here," Disman explained. “The whole idea is to keep people living in their own homes in the community or in the least restrictive living environment as possible while functioning at the most optimal level they can. We can catch them before they fall."

She means that literally as well as figuratively, because participants have access to doctors, nurses, physical therapists, social workers, exercise equipment, and other tools onsite that can keep them in shape and monitored to avoid the physical and mental trauma of an emergency room visit.

"Some elderly people fall down a lot," said Disman. "That's very common. If one of our participants has a change in condition and is not walking as well as they had, or their balance has changed, we have professionals evaluating them continually. We can work as a whole team to prevent a fall that may have sent someone to the hospital for an ER visit or a prolonged hospital stay.

"We provide medical transportation for our participants from their homes, and make medical appointments for them," she said. "We have a fleet of buses to come here, or go to the hospital. We contract with King County providers including assisted living facilities and adult family homes. We provide escorts to appointment and call to remind participants about their medical appointments."

Medicare and Medicaid funds are pooled to cover all medically necessary care and services, according to ElderPlace. Participants receive their prescription and over-the-counter medications with no co-pays.

The Providence ElderPlace model of care is known as PACE (Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly), and is the only PACE model in Washington. It serves those age 55 and up with multiple health care needs considered by Washington to need "nursing home level" of care, which does not necessarily mean they live in a nursing care facility. PACE regulations state that participants need help with at least two activities daily such as eating, dressing, the bathroom and shower.

DOCTOR ON SITE

Dr. Laura Myre is stationed at ElderPlace West Tuesdays and Thursdays and the other facility Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. (That center is open five days a week, equipped with two full time, and three part time part time physicians.) She said ElderPlace is searching for an additional male doctor.

"I love ElderPlace because it's truly a team approach to the frail geriatric patient," said Myre, armed with a fellowship in geriatric medicine from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, the city where she was raised She has nearly eight years with ElderPlace. "I have the support and intervention of all different kinds of disciplines. This is the only way to take care of this subset of the geriatric population, to keep them in the community, and keep them thriving.

"I love geriatrics because I love all the stories," she said. "Our patients have seen things we only get to read about. Their lives are long and complex. And the medicine is challenging."

Myre believes there are often practical alternatives to prescribing drugs.

"A lot of anxiety and insomnnia is experienced by our dementia patients, she explained. "If the (ElderPlace) social worker has a home visit and finds that issues are being brought up because of a roommate or other social situations we can adjust their living situation and their symptoms get better. That's not something medication is ever going to fix."

A GOOD FIT FOR TWO WEST SEATTLE RESIDENTS

Minneapolis-raised Bob Lender, 70, a stroke victim with a history of prostate cancer, has been in the ElderPlace program six years. He lives in Westwood Heights, a "senior preference" low income Public Housing building. ElderPlace maintains an apartment at Westwood Heights dedicated to participants 24/7 who live there.

"I like the medical facilities here," he said of the facilities at The Mount. "I exercise about twice a week, socialize, play a lot of games. I have no family here. I teach a history class here one Tuesday and Thursday each month. I get books from the local library by Westwood Heights. I did a talk about a 5,000 year-old mummy, and will talk about the Amistad slave ship next. "

"I came out to Seattle with two girlfriends who I worked with at the Fargo (North Dakota) auditor's office," said Florence Diehm, 77, of her recollection as a teen. "I said, 'OK. This is my chance.' So I left. I got married here at 17 and stayed," she said with a wry smile. She has three children, including a daughter, Linda, who works at Fred Hutch in cancer research in Tacoma.

"I've been with program since 2005," she said. She lives in the Alaska House across from the new QFC in the Junction, a facility that is senior and disabled-focused. "I worked for Peoples Bank in the trust department for Joshua Green. He started Peoples Bank, and used to come in every morning until he was over 100. "(He lived to be 105.)

"He was a great guy," recalled Diehm. "He wore a suit, had a very stiff collar, and his chauffeur would bring him right to the door. Most guys who worked on the mezzanine would take the elavator. He'd come in and say, "You'd get there faster if you'd walk.' And he walked. He was a lot of fun. At 62 the doctor told me I should retire. I was really lost, divorced when the kids were young. When I left my job I thought, nobody wants me. Nobody needs me, then I got busy going out with my car, visiting everybody, going to the casinos, and visiting my mother and brothers back in Fargo when I could."

Some area seniors may recognize Diehm as she was the receptionist at the Senior Center of West Seattle and worked with director Karen Sasson and activities coordinator Carol Johnston. She still attends Rainbow Bingo nights there.

"My daughter got me in here," Diehm said of ElderPlace. "She decided I was falling too many times. (Diehm has a permanent scar above her right eye.) She got real upset about my falling and found this place on the Internet. It's nice. I like it now. At first I thought , 'Oh no, I don't want to go here'. My daughter said either do this or move into assisted living. I didn't want to do that so I said, 'Fine. I'll go.'"

For information contact: Corina Kroll at (206) 320-5325 or corina.kroll@providence.org