Celebrating our Accreditation as a Senior-friendly Emergency Department
Adventist Health Sonora has earned Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation from the American College of Emergency Physicians. This accreditation means that the hospital’s emergency services are equipped with the necessary expertise, tools and staff to provide excellent care tailored to the needs of older patients.
“Tuolumne, Calaveras and neighboring foothill counties are home to the oldest populations in California, so it’s especially important to us that we provide care specific to the needs of our community’s elders,” says Michelle Fuentes, Adventist Health Sonora president.
To achieve accreditation, the team at Adventist Health Sonora works together to:
- Provide standardized approaches to care that address common geriatric issues.
- Ensure optimal transitions of care from the emergency department to other settings (inpatient units, home, rehabilitation centers, etc.).
- Achieve geriatric-focused quality improvements.
Research shows that older adults visit the emergency department at high rates and often arrive with multiple chronic conditions. Seniors who visit hospitals accredited by the American College of Emergency Physicians can be confident that they have enhanced staffing, education and geriatric-focused policies and protocols to provide appropriate care and help get older patients back to their daily lives after an emergency occurs.
“While we hope they never need emergency care, we hope our older neighbors can rest a little easier knowing that quality care is available to them, close to home,” says Fuentes.
