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Photo by Broadmead resident Erroll Hay

Broadmead to Create Centers of Excellence in Dementia Care and Health & Wellness

Johns Hopkins faculty will collaborate on program development

Broadmead, a Life Plan Community in Cockeysville, and Johns Hopkins HealthCare, LLC, have reached an agreement to develop, with Johns Hopkins physicians and scientists, centers of excellence in two critical areas of aging services: dementia care, and health and wellness. The creation of these centers of excellence is a natural extension of the excellence of care Broadmead has provided for the past 36 years.

For the dementia care center of excellence, the team will develop a program that combines current best practices in dementia care with forward-thinking approaches and evidence-based research. Alzheimer's and other types of dementia are a major health issue among older adults, striking nearly 20% of those age 75 to 84, and nearly 50% of those age 85 and older. Programs and services developed through the Broadmead/Johns Hopkins HealthCare collaboration will reach beyond providing care to residents and will also provide resources, support and education for professional caregivers, family caregivers and other family members affected by a loved one's dementia.

A major goal of the collaboration is to develop a state-of-the-art care model that benefits Broadmead residents throughout the community, from independent living through assisted living and comprehensive care. Building on research and programs developed by Johns Hopkins faculty, these programs will enable residents with dementia to extend the time period in which they can stay in their independent living residence. Then, as they move to higher levels of care, residents will benefit from advanced, research-proven programs at each level of care, including a dedicated neighborhood for advanced dementia, to help those with dementia live as full a life as possible.

"We are incredibly excited about the potential impact of our dementia care center of excellence," says Broadmead CEO John Howl. "Dementia is a tragic disease that impacts not only the individual with the disease, but their loved ones and caregivers as well. As the nation's population continues to age, the need for specialized dementia care programming is expected to grow tremendously. We have the opportunity to create something extraordinary and exceptional that will significantly improve the quality of life for Broadmead residents, their families and their caregivers."

Broadmead's second center of excellence initiative, in health and wellness, will investigate a variety of dimensions of wellness, including physical, intellectual, social, vocational, spiritual, environmental and emotional, to develop a signature, evidenced-based program that promotes healthy aging, maximizes residents' independence, and minimizes the effects of disease. Like the dementia care center of excellence, it will explore how residents' health and wellness needs—including exercise, nutrition, socialization, intellectual engagement and more—are best met throughout the community, whether the resident is in independent living, assisted living or comprehensive care. The findings will help determine which programs really make a difference in terms of maximizing health, wellness and overall quality of life.

"The development of the health and wellness center of excellence is another way Broadmead can fulfill its mission of fostering independence and growth of older adults," says CEO John Howl. "The development of both centers of excellence will enable Broadmead residents to enhance the quality of their lives, no matter what part of the community they are in."

The collaborative approach to develop both centers of excellence will provide significant benefits to Broadmead residents, as they will benefit from leading edge programs developed with the advice and insights of Johns Hopkins' world-recognized leaders in geriatric care and services. Key findings and programs developed for both initiatives will then be shared with other providers of services to older adults to improve care and services, both in the Baltimore area and throughout the country.

"While we are pleased that these programs will benefit Broadmead's residents, there really is a bigger picture here," says CEO John Howl. "In ten years, there will be nearly two-and-half times as many 80-year-olds in our country as there today. At Broadmead, we feel we have an obligation, and a commitment, to share what we learn with others in the senior living field, so that we can create the best possible living environments, and thus the best possible quality of life, for our aging population."

Broadmead's collaboration with Johns Hopkins HealthCare is just one piece of the overall development and implementation of a comprehensive master plan for the evolution of the Broadmead campus. As part of developing these centers of excellence, Broadmead is exploring ways to renovate its skilled nursing center into separate neighborhoods specially designed to provide care and services for dementia, short-term rehabilitation, and traditional, comprehensive long term care. It is also exploring ways to expand and enhance the community's health and wellness resources and spaces. The collaborative effort will focus on ensuring these two parts of the community's renovation will truly become centers of excellence in aging services.

A team that includes representatives from both organizations will lead this effort.

From Broadmead:

  • Chief Executive Officer John Howl
  • Chief Medical Officer Barbara Carroll
  • Andrea Dwyer, health care services administrator
  • Chief Operating Officer Robin Somers

Johns Hopkins HealthCare senior advisory team:

  • Constantine (Kostas) G. Lyketsos, M.D., M.P.H., The Elizabeth Plank Althouse Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
  • Samuel Christopher Durso, M.D. M.B.A, The Mason F. Lord Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Director, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology.

Full bios are available upon request.

Media Contact: Kayla Murphy, 240-575-3337, kmurphy@loveandcompany.com

Broadmead was founded by The Stony Run Friends Meeting (a Quaker organization) as a way to serve the needs of older people. It opened in 1979 as a private, not-for-profit, Life Plan Community. Broadmead continues to serve older adults of all faiths, under the guidance and ownership of a Quaker-guided, not-for-profit corporation.

About Johns Hopkins Medicine

Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is a $7 billion integrated global health enterprise and one of the leading academic health care systems in the United States. JHM unites physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with the organizations, health professionals and facilities of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. JHM's vision, "Together, we will deliver the promise of medicine," is supported by its mission to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research, and clinical care. Diverse and inclusive, JHM educates medical students, scientists, health care professionals and the public; conducts biomedical research; and provides patient-centered medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat human illness. JHM operates six academic and community hospitals, four suburban health care and surgery centers, and 39 primary and specialty care outpatient sites under the umbrella of Johns Hopkins Community Physicians. The Johns Hopkins Hospital, opened in 1889, has been ranked number one in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 22 years of the survey's 25 year history, most recently in 2013. For more information about Johns Hopkins Medicine, its research, education and clinical programs, and for the latest health, science, and research news, visit www.hopkinsmedicine.org

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