Five Questions With: Dr. Patricia Gifford

Dr. Patricia Gifford, a retired geriatrician, is the team leader for the Providence Village Healthcare Advocacy Service. / COURTESY H. PHILIP WEST JR.
Dr. Patricia Gifford, a retired geriatrician, is the team leader for the Providence Village Healthcare Advocacy Service. / COURTESY H. PHILIP WEST JR.

Dr. Patricia Gifford, a retired geriatrician, is board certified in internal medicine, geriatric medicine and hospice and palliative care. As the team leader for the Providence Village Healthcare Advocacy Service, she oversees volunteers who accompany elderly members to doctor appointments and act as their advocates. She also serves on the founding board of the Providence Village, which provides a broad array of services and programs that enable seniors to age in place, safely and comfortably in their homes.

Gifford has both personal and professional experience caring for elderly individuals. Before caring for her husband, who has Parkinson’s disease, and her father, 94, Gifford had maintained a 30-year clinical geriatric medical practice in California, the last 10 years of which she spent caring for frail homebound and institutionalized individuals.

A native Rhode Islander who received her medical degree from the University of Southern California, Gifford talked with Providence Business News about the Providence Village and its health care advocacy service, which she developed for Providence Village members.

PBN: The Providence Village only provides services to a “hyper-local” community – the 02906 zip code of Providence, part of Fox Point and a small part of Pawtucket’s Oak Hill neighborhood. What are the pros and cons of that approach, and how is Providence Village funded?

- Advertisement -

GIFFORD: A village springs from a group of neighborhoods. If it becomes too big, the ability of volunteers to help each other diminishes. Services that involve going to members’ homes, therefore, must be restricted to a geographic area. Currently, services provided by the Providence Village volunteers include transportation, check-ins and visits, health care advocacy and home maintenance. On the other hand, village social events and classes, such as computer classes held in collaboration with Hamilton House, are open to members who live outside the geographic borders. The Providence Village is a nonprofit business, funded through a combination of member dues, donations and grants.

PBN: Is the Providence Village able to be replicated elsewhere or, alternatively, expanded to include a larger cohort of participants?

GIFFORD: Rather than grow, villages need to replicate. The Providence Village will provide leadership and support for people in other neighborhoods nearby (and throughout Rhode Island) that wish to create their own villages. In fact, Little Compton has a village operating out of its senior center, and several other Rhode Island communities have told us they are contemplating developing villages.

PBN: Can you describe the training for health care advocates and who will provide the training? What types of individuals do you expect to volunteer as health care advocates?

GIFFORD: Providence Village volunteers who interact with members must pass criminal background checks and undergo training in their respective service areas. Village health care advocates have participated in 20 hours of training in the communication skills needed to assist members in preparing for, and interacting with, providers in the outpatient setting. Most people in our initial group of volunteers have professional health care backgrounds, and many are eager to continue training over the next year, in order to assist members and their families in the emergency department, hospital and rehab settings.

PBN: What types of individuals are most likely to seek a health care advocate, and how many people do you anticipate accessing the service this year and in the coming years. Is there an additional fee for this service?

GIFFORD: We anticipate a slow but steady growth of our advocacy service as members hear from each other about the advantages of having help to organize paperwork and medications, and a friend by their side to clarify the conversation in the doctor’s office. Members who will benefit most are those with chronic health problems, who also have hearing, vision and cognitive impairment – in other words, our most vulnerable elders – and those without family members readily available. The health care advocacy program does not assess any additional fees.

PBN: How do you envision the health care advocacy service benefiting both the recipients and providers?

GIFFORD: As the advocacy program moves forward, we will be collecting both process and outcome data. On the process side, we intend to continually improve our service so that the experience is a very positive one for all concerned, including health care providers. On the outcome side, we intend to address the mounting evidence and common shared experience that many medical errors are preventable and often based on inadequate communication. In time, we hope to show that members of the Providence Village who utilize the health care advocacy service have fewer urgent medical visits and a stronger sense of well-being and confidence than they had when they attempted to go it alone.

No posts to display