New Grants Totaling Over $3.6 Million Approved by JAHF Board of Trustees
The John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees approved two grants totaling $3,683,833 to improve surgical care of older adults and to integrate elder mistreatment prevention and intervention in health and social care.
Geriatrics Surgery Verification (GSV) Phase III: Age-Friendly Surgery, A Delirium-Focused Entry to GSV ($1,859,623 for 3 years)
American College of Surgeons (ACS)
This grant will improve surgical care of older adults by expanding hospital participation in the Geriatric Surgery Verification (GSV) program through a new Age-Friendly Surgery level focused on addressing postoperative delirium. Recognizing that delirium is a common and serious complication in older surgical patients, this new level is being designed to accommodate hospitals of all sizes and resource levels. The goal is to enable these hospitals to establish an age-friendly infrastructure that improves the quality of care for older patients. This level will introduce a targeted set of standards that hospitals can implement to lay the groundwork for comprehensive delirium management. To support this effort, a detailed protocol will be developed, providing clear, actionable steps for surgical teams to follow to better prevent, recognize, and treat delirium, ultimately leading to improved outcomes for older adults. Integration with other American College of Surgeons quality programs will be pursued and educational resources will align with the Age-Friendly Health Systems 4Ms Framework.
National Collaboratory to Address Elder Mistreatment, Phase IV: Integrating Elder Mistreatment Prevention and Intervention in Mainstream Health and Social Care ($1,824,210 for 3 years)
Education Development Center (EDC)
This funding will support a next phase of the National Collaboratory to Address Elder Mistreatment, creating a cohesive national approach that builds on prior momentum by embedding elder abuse identification and intervention in mainstream health and social care for older adults. The initiative will identify supportive policy and payment pathways, integrate elder mistreatment into larger aging initiatives, and align with related efforts of key federal government agencies. The Collaboratory will support translation of evidence into practice by developing a model for evaluating return-on-investment for elder mistreatment prevention and intervention program implementation. This will include documenting and disseminating lessons learned from the rollout of the Elder Mistreatment Emergency Department Toolkit and regional elder mistreatment work in Pennsylvania, supported by The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. The Collaboratory will also continue its mentorship program and develop and implement a sustainability plan for the longer term.
