Like its pioneering predecessor uptown, the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai-Union Square is redefining the concept of care for older adults by marshaling its multiple resources to keep patients healthy, functioning in the community, and out of the hospital, a goal more important than ever during the pandemic.
Opened in July 2019, the Martha Stewart Center in downtown Manhattan is expanding the original model with a unique brand of comprehensive, integrated care that focuses on staying well and aging successfully, as well as on treating illness.
“We call it the Center for Living for a reason,” says Nathan Goldstein, MD, Site Chair for Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai Downtown. “We take care of very sick older adults with complicated medical histories, of course, but our goal is ensuring wellness through holistic, interdisciplinary, and patient-centered care. And a large part of that is empowering adults ages 65 and older to make their own health care decisions and participate directly in their own health maintenance.”
The success of this approach can be seen in the fact that patients of the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai-Union Square and the Martha Stewart Center for Living at The Mount Sinai Hospital—launched in 2007 with a generous gift from the healthy-aging icon—have experienced half as many emergency room visits as other older adults, shorter hospital stays when admitted, and 50 percent fewer readmissions after hospitalization.
For the many people with comorbidities who need outpatient clinical services, the newest Martha Stewart Center specializes in convenience.
“The great thing about our center downtown is its ‘one-stop shopping,’” explains Dr. Goldstein, the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman Professor in Geriatrics and Palliative Care at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “I can send patients to 20 different specialties in the same building, including cardiology, pulmonology, renal, and rheumatology, and patients with cancer can get chemotherapy or radiation treatment at the same site. Patients don’t have to wait a week or more for an appointment. We can often walk them right down the hallway to see a specialist.” The downtown center recorded nearly 5,000 patient visits in its first year.
The Center includes a number of specially designed elements, including a bright and cheery entrance.
Spacious exam rooms that are large enough for patients in wheelchairs.
An entrance that is bright and cheery.
Extra wide hallways lead to rooms that can accommodate a hospital bed and feature decor selected by Martha Stewart.
More than just offering treatments, though, the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai-Union Square is creating an entirely new mindset around the care for older adults.
“We have an incredibly dedicated staff of physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, and others who know our patients more than clinically,” says Dr. Goldstein. “They know the life stories of our patients as well as their families.”
The clinical team’s learning about the patients who seek care at the center process begins with a comprehensive geriatrics assessment, when each new patient is asked about much more than medical problems. They are questioned about their emotional and spiritual well-being, their physical and psychological comfort, family support, their coping skills, and functional abilities. Each patient is assigned a social worker as part of the interdisciplinary team available to them.
The emphasis on wellness and patient autonomy at the Martha Stewart Center for Living is fueled by a strong emphasis on the needs of the community. Special seminars have been offered to all seniors from the area on advance care planning, medication management (polypharmacy), depression, long-term health care insurance, and financial advice.
Patients had 50 percent fewer readmissions after hospitalization.
The Center also offers patients chaplaincy and music therapy, and plans to add yoga classes, Tai chi, and massage therapy when possible. In addition to its varied services for older adults, the Center offers support groups to family members and caregivers.
Professional education is also pivotal to the mission of the Martha Stewart Center for Living. Over the last academic year, some 15 post-graduate fellows trained at the Mount Sinai-Union Square center and became integral to geriatrics and palliative medicine delivery. Medical and pharmacy residents and medical students from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai also rotated through the Center. Physicians-in-training joined with seasoned geriatricians on the medical staff to participate in clinical research on aging and patient care.
“Given this country’s rapidly aging population, the need for the kind of specialized training in geriatrics we provide at our Center has never been greater,” says Dr. Goldstein. “Developing the skills of physicians in outpatient medicine and ambulatory practice will be absolutely essential to keeping older adults functional and out of the hospital over the next 20 to 30 years.”
A Special Event
The 24th Annual Douglas West Endowed Memorial Lecture: The Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine invites you to join an online talk by Louise Aronson, MD, MFA, author of “Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life.”
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 5:30 pm. Click here to register and for more details.
Featured
Nathan Goldstein, MD
Site Chair for Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai Downtown