Moorings Park President and CEO Dan Lavender announced the award-winning Continuing Care Retirement Community in Naples has joined forces with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to create one of the most innovative fellowship tracks in the field of geriatric medicine. The newly designed track will train experts in the field who will be equipped to transition into leadership positions. The two-year fellowship will include one clinical year in geriatric medicine at Johns Hopkins, and one year of leadership training in senior practice management and medical direction at the Moorings Park campus located on Goodlette-Frank Road.
“We are very excited about partnering with Johns Hopkins University to increase the number of geriatricians and confident that the service to our residents will be enhanced with this program,” said Lavender. “An important objective of this fellowship program is to prepare leaders in geriatric medicine in Florida, so applicants who plan to have a career in Florida are strongly preferred. Johns Hopkins and Moorings Park are acknowledged leaders in their respective fields and fully appreciate the growing need for leaders in gerontology, particularly in Florida. We fully expect this fellowship program will ultimately have a positive impact on the quality of care retirees receive throughout the state.”
Moorings Park offers a continuum of care designed to provide experiences customized to each resident right on campus. That continuum of care includes medical care provided by fellowship-trained geriatricians overseen by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Gloth who is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians and the American Geriatrics Society.
“As children, our medical needs were overseen by a Pediatrician,” said Dr. Gloth. “As we grew into adulthood, we relied on Family Practitioners or Internists. Retirees have medical needs that are different than they were not too long ago. Gerontology is a field of medicine that addresses issues associated with aging. There’s a difference between internal medicine or family medicine and what we’re doing with our knowledge about aging and geriatric medicine. Risk factors change as people age. Working with physicians who have the understanding of what those physiological changes mean is an advantage for individuals who are aging."
Dr. Gloth and his team play an essential role in providing Moorings Park’s continuum of care. Their individualized treatment plans take full advantage of the community's Center for Healthy Living and Extended Congregate Care licensed Assisted Living and Memory Care Center.
"The continuum of care offers security for our residents," said Dr. Gloth. "It allows us to treat people in the office and to interact with them in other settings. We have the ability to use our knowledge of geriatric medicine to coordinate exercise, out-patient rehabilitation, and nutrition with what is happening on the medical side. That allows us to provide a more holistic model for healthcare overall. When you hear expressions like ‘60 is the new 30,’ those expressions are about how much healthier and independent individuals are at later stages of their life today. The model we have emphasizes healthy living and overall health and well-being. Geriatric medicine has taught us there are the things we can do earlier that pay huge dividends in terms of optimizing functional survival, the ability to be active as you get older and retain that independence much longer in life.”
Dr. Gloth’s team and network of medical professionals includes geriatric-specialty nurses, an osteoporosis specialist, cancer specialists, ophthalmologists working in the Center for Healthy Living’s state-of-the-art eye laboratory, as well as onsite specialists in cardiology, podiatry, dermatology, neuropsychiatry, and other disciplines. While their professional expertise is exceptional, their level of caring and compassion is extraordinary.
“I have never been any place where I’ve been as impressed by how genuine the caring is at Moorings Park,” said Dr. Gloth. “Not just in terms of providing care, but in terms of taking a real interest in the residents. The medical team genuinely cares and you see it everywhere. You cannot provide the level of care we’re able to provide unless you have support from leadership and the leadership at Moorings Park is remarkable. They have a genuine interest in providing simply the best to the residents. We wouldn’t have the program we have if somebody years ago didn’t say ‘We are really going to be challenged by health care down the road and we want to be ready for whatever is coming.’ That vision and leadership has continued and the fellowship program participants will have an opportunity to experience that firsthand.”
