Federal Grant Provides Follow-up Care For Hospitalized Senior Citizens In Delaware County
RIDLEY PARK, Pa. (CBS) - A $400,000 federal grant will help Delaware County provide follow-up care for hospitalized seniors after they're discharged, with the goal of avoiding a quick return to the emergency room.
A visiting nurse and a social worker will make periodic visits over two months to elderly patients of Taylor Hospital after they're sent home. Louis Colbert heads up Delaware County's Office of Services for the Aging.
"They'll make sure they understand their medication, make sure they got their medication, make sure that they schedule their appointments with their primary care physician."
Far too often, seniors return to the hospital within a month after discharge because they couldn't, or in some cases wouldn't, follow doctor's orders. It's hoped this partnership with Crozer-Keystone Health System will turn that trend around over the next two years.
It's the only program of its kind in the state and one of only 16 across the country.
Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio
