Wahiawā Health Recognized As An Age-Friendly Health System

 WAHIAWĀ HEALTH RECOGNIZED AS AN AGE-FRIENDLY HEALTH SYSTEM 

Committed to Care Excellence to Improve Age-Friendly Care for Older Adults 

WAHIAWĀ, Hawai‘i – Wahiawā Center for Community Health (Wahiawā Health), a federally qualified health center, announced they achieved special recognition as an Age-Friendly Health System — Committed to Care Excellence for their ongoing efforts to ensure appropriate care for all older adults they serve. 

Age-Friendly Health Systems aim to follow an essential set of evidence-based practices, cause no harm, and align with what matters to older adults and their family caregivers. 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). 

The National Council on Aging reports that 80% of older adults have at least one chronic disease, and 68% have at least two. According to a 2021 report from the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development, nearly one in five people in Hawaii is over the age of 65. The elderly population is expected to continue increasing at a much faster rate than the rest of the population until 2030 when all baby boomers will be 65 or older.1 Geriatric programs are a vital resource for ensuring our kūpuna receive the care and support they need to age-in-place comfortably. 

As a community health center, Wahiawā Health is committed to fostering collaboration, while engaging and empowering patients, their families, caregivers and the community to increase access to care where it is needed. 

“Wahiawā Health’s commitment to care excellence for our aging kupuna population, and the need for quality elder care in our community, led to the opening of our geriatric specialty center,” said Bev Harbin, Wahiawā Health chief executive officer. “Because of our efforts and dedication towards the reliable practice of the 4Ms — What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility — and the resources available through our geriatric center, we continue our dedication to provide more of our elders with safe, high-quality and affordable care that is based on what matters most to them as individuals, their specific goals and preferences.” 

Wahiawā Health’s geriatric specialty center is dedicated to optimizing aging for older adults by promoting health and quality of life through comprehensive and individualized care. The geriatric center is led by Dr. Alain Takane, a board-certified geriatric physician who specializes in providing medical care for the elderly population, many of whom have complex medical issues. 

Dr. Takane grew up in Hilo and is a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine where she received her Master’s of Public Health degree in social and behavioral health sciences. She is a board-certified family practitioner and completed her family medicine residency at Hilo Medical Center and trained at the Hawaiʻi Island Family Health Center. Additionally, she completed the geriatric medicine fellowship training program with the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. 

Dr. Takane works closely with geriatric care managers to make certain that other medical providers, caregivers, family members, and the patient are well informed about the patient’s medications, exercise regimen, dietary needs, daily schedules, and other needs. Wahiawā Health also offers geriatric dietician support by providing personalized diet recommendations and easy-to-understand plans to help patients meet their nutritional goals. 

To achieve recognition as an Age-Friendly Health System, over a three-month period, Wahiawā Health collected data about older adults who received a set of evidence-based elements of high-quality care, known as the 4Ms: What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility. During each geriatric visit, Wahiawā Health assessed the 4M framework: 

• • What Matters – know and align care with each older adult’s specific health outcome goals and care preferences including but not limited to, advanced care planning, end-of-life care, and across settings of care.
  • Medication – if medication is necessary, use age-friendly medication that does not interfere with What Matters to the patient, Mobility, or Mentation across settings of care. 
    • Wahiawā Health’s care team evaluates two key medication components:
      • Polypharmacy – multiple medication use that may lead to interactions between medications
      • Deprescribing – the planned process of reducing or stopping medications that may no longer be of benefit or may be causing harm
  • Mentation – prevent, identify, treat, and manage dementia depression, and delirium across settings of care.
    • Assessments include cognitive and depression testing and functional status and monitoring of ADLs/IADLs.
  • Mobility – ensure that older adults move safely every day in order to maintain function and do What Matters.
    • Geriatric assessments include fall prevention, falls, needs for assistive devices, and planning for driving if indicated.

Hours, Appointments, Telehealth, Insurance 

The geriatric specialty department is located in Suite 106B and is open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and the first and third Saturday of each month from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Wahiawā Health conducts in-person visits as well as telehealth appointments over the phone or via video on a smart phone, tablet or computer equipped with a camera. Patients can call (808) 622-1618 and leave a message to make an appointment. All voicemail messages will be answered in a timely manner. 

Wahiawā Health accepts most major insurance and provides a sliding-fee scale for uninsured patients. Staff members can assist patients with insurance enrollment. 

About Wahiawā Health 

Wahiawā Health is a federally qualified health center that provides affordable, high-quality and accessible health care to the people of Wahiawā, Waialua, Mililani, Schofield, Kunia and surrounding areas. Wahiawā Health is located at 302 California Avenue, Suite 106, and is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. 

For more information, and a full list of hours listed by services, visit: www.wahiawahealth.org or, call (808) 622-1618,or email at info@wahiawahealth.org. 

About Age-Friendly Health Systems 

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 http://www.ihi.org/agefriendly. 

For more than 30 years, the IHI has used improvement science to advance and sustain better outcomes in health and health care across the world. IHI brings awareness of safety and quality to millions, catalyzes learning and the systematic improvement of care, develops solutions to previously intractable challenges, and mobilizes health systems, communities, regions, and nations to reduce harm and deaths. 

As of August 2023, more than 1,900 hospitals, practices, convenient care clinics, and nursing homes have been recognized as Age- Friendly Health Systems – Committed to Care Excellence. Globally, more than 2,480,000 older adults have been reached with 4Ms care. 

1 https://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/economic/reports/Elderly_Population_in_Hawaii-Housing_Dec2021.pdf 

# # #