San Gabriel Valley VA Clinic Received Special Recognition as an Age-Friendly Health System

As an Age-Friendly Health System initiative, evidence-based elements of high-quality care, known as the 4Ms, focus on of care for older patients. The 4Ms include:

• What Matters: Know and align care with each older adult's specific health outcome goals and care preferences including, but not limited to, end-of-life care, and across settings of care.
• Medication: If medication is necessary, use Age-Friendly medications that do not interfere with What Matters to the older adult, Mobility, or Mentation across settings of care.
• Mentation: Prevent, identify, treat, and manage dementia, depression, and delirium across settings of care.
• Mobility: Ensure that older adults move safely every day, to maintain function and do What Matters.

“I want to express my gratitude to the team at San Gabriel Valley VA Clinic for your dedication to age-friendly care,” said Leslie Pelton, MPA, Vice President, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). “Because of your efforts, more older Veterans are receiving safe, high-quality care that is based on what matters most to them as individuals — their specific goals and preferences. And, we can learn from the work you are doing to help inform others across the globe. Thank you for making this happen.” 

The San Gabriel Valley VA Clinic joins more than 1,900 hospitals, practices, convenient care clinics, and nursing homes have been recognized as Age Friendly Health Systems – Committed to Care Excellence. This multi-disciplinary initiative also brings together health care teams committed to sharing data, learning together, and implementing age-friendly best practices across emergency departments, intensive care units, medical-surgical units, general wards, and primary and specialty care settings.

“The San Gabriel Valley VA Clinic is honored to serve a vibrant, senior population. The recognition from the Institute of Healthcare Achievement symbolizes our dedication to older Veterans and their families. This achievement was made possible thanks to the collaborative efforts of nurses, primary care providers, and social workers coming together to address the 4Ms with each senior Veteran,” said Dr. Meghana Frenchman, Medical Director at San Gabriel Valley VA Clinic. 

Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), in partnership with the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Catholic Health Association of the US (CHA). For more information, visit www.ihi.org/agefriendly.