An innovative partnership between Moorings Park Communities and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine aims to increase the number of physicians who have the expertise and experience to treat a growing aging population.
The partnership started back in 2014 with the launch of a Geriatric Fellowship in Clinical Leadership. The goal was to promote successful aging by perpetuating excellence in geriatric medicine, training future geriatricians for leadership in clinical care and management, and developing a quality healthcare workforce for seniors in Southwest Florida.
This year, the Moorings Park/Johns Hopkins fellowship program will place a second-year geriatric medicine fellow at the Naples, FL-based life plan community (also known as a continuing care retirement community). The fellow will receive additional specialized training after a year of clinical geriatrics training at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.
Originally a two-year program, the fellowship program has morphed to a 1.5-year program, with one year at Johns Hopkins and six months at Moorings Park. Two fellows already have completed the program, with a third — Andre Davies, M.D. — coming on this year. Davies will provide services in Moorings Park’s clinic while also working with the Chateau Skilled Nursing Center, focusing on best practices for infection control and appropriate use of antibiotics.
Fellows have the opportunity to work at all three Moorings Park locations as needed, seeing patients admitted to The Chateau for Skilled Nursing for short-term rehabilitation stays as well as residents living in independent living and the Orchid Terrace assisted living and memory care center.
“The program has been a great success. This fellowship provides the opportunities for fellows to work with a complex geriatric-focused community throughout the continuum of care,” Moorings Park Vice President of Clinical Services Diana Bailey said. “Being able to see residents in all three levels — independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing — provides them with the opportunity to treat patients of many functional levels and at different stages of their life.”
Past fellows have worked with the skilled nursing facility’s infection control preventionist and were successful in decreasing the antibiotic days of treatment by 43%, Bailey said. The most recent fellow helped advance the Moorings Park assessment protocol used for entrance into the life care community and update the annual wellness assessment.
“We are very excited about partnering with Johns Hopkins to increase the number of geriatricians and are confident that the service to our residents will be even further enhanced with this program,” Moorings Park Communities CEO and President Dan Lavender said. “We really believe in our mission to enable healthier, happier, longer lives. The Johns Hopkins fellowship program gives us access to innovative thinking about how we can achieve and enhance the goals of successful aging.”
