|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Tri-Valley seniors are set to have a new health care option available starting next year, with construction commencing on a center set to host services from a regional organization focused on patients 55 years old and up.
Livermore officials joined leaders from the Center for Elders’ Independence for a groundbreaking ceremony on June 30 marking the next step for the Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) Center set to open early next year and aimed at providing long-term and preventative healthcare for seniors across the Tri-Valley.
“The Tri-Valley area has a large need for services focused on the older population and we are thrilled to provide those much needed services of senior health care and social connections,” Center for Elders’ Independence CEO Maria Zamora said in a statement. “By opening this new center, older community members won’t have to travel over an hour to see their doctor. They can find treatment from doctors who look like them and speak like them in a community they are familiar with.”
The new center is aimed at addressing the current and future needs for senior health care throughout the region, with the California Department of Aging projecting a 195% increase in the over-60 population between 2010 and 2060, plus a 534% increase in the population over the age of 80 in that timeframe.
“This is tremendous, because we’re welcoming a program with all-inclusive care for elders to Livermore, and that’s the PACE program,” Livermore Mayor John Marchand said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “And it is so important, because we don’t have those services here in Livermore, and I’m so excited that they are coming out here.”
The facility set for construction at 2441 Constitution Drive in Livermore will serve populations throughout the city and surrounding Livermore Valley as well as Pleasanton, Dublin and San Ramon.
“I just really want to acknowledge this is super cool,” Councilmember Evan Branning said at the ceremony. “Like having this here, in Livermore serving our residents and I appreciate that you guys are taking care of some of our most vulnerable communities and neighbors in one of the hardest periods of their life, and you’re doing it with compassion and kindness and really making sure they feel loved, when oftentimes they’re put into nursing homes or places where they might feel isolated.”
With its emphasis being on preventative treatment with a holistic approach to care, the goal of PACE programs and facilities is to keep older patients out of nursing homes and hospitals, according to organizers.
The PACE model is designed for patients over 55 years old with pre-existing conditions, aiming to treat those conditions before they advance further and support overall physical and mental health.
The center is set to open its doors early next year, with organizers and officials anticipating the facility will usher in approximately 40 new jobs in the Livermore for physicians, nurses and support staff.
“When an individual in the Tri-Valley enrolls in PACE, they are not just a list of diagnoses or a list of medications,” Zamora said at the ceremony. “PACE really seeks to serve the whole person.”
What about seniors who have Kaiser or other medical insurance coverage? And what about those seniors who are unsheltered?