Making a Difference: The Janssen ElderCare Lifetime Achievement Award
by Geriatric Times Staff| Geriatric Times |  |
July/August 2000 | |
Vol. I | |
Issue 2 |
"Issues we never dreamed of in youth become terribly real as we age: physical problems, financial worries and a complex, building regimen of medications; the terrifying prospect of needing long-term care whether at home or a nursing home. It's not a very nice picture is it?" asked Anwar Feroz, M.Sc., group director at Janssen ElderCare, part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies.
"However," he continued, "there are a few great souls in this world who are not only willing to look closely at this picture, but who have dedicated their lives to improving the quality of care frame by frame and whose every effort to help is like a stroke of a brush that paints a better picture for our elderly patients and residents. Their achievements help us write a magnificient last act for each and every life that they touch. A last act played with dignity, with grace, with courage, with less pain and with a greater sense of peace."
These remarks opened the presentation of the Janssen ElderCare Lifetime Achievement Awards at the U.S. Geriatric & Long-Term Care Congress this past June in Las Vegas. The award was created by Johnson & Johnson to honor those whose lives exemplify the profession of caring for older adults. This year the first award was presented to Janice L. Feinberg, Pharm.D., J.D.
Feinberg has been the executive director of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) Research and Education Foundation for 10 years. During her tenure, she has focused on improving the health and well being of the senior population through research and education that promote safe, effective and appropriate medication use. She has supported the consultant pharmacist's role in identifying, resolving and preventing medicine-related problems and has worked to prepare senior-care pharmacists for their role in the interdisciplinary team. Feroz commended Feinberg for making a difference with her life's work, including her vision and execution of the MDS-Med Guide, the Fleetwood Project and the Consultant Pharmacist's Creed.
The MDS-Med Guide is a tool that integrates the Minimum Data Set (MDS) (a federally mandated resident assessment process used in all Medicare/Medicaid certified nursing facilities) with medication regimens in order to identify and prevent potential medication-related problems.
The Fleetwood Project focuses on patients at highest risk for medication-related problems and studies the impact of consultant pharmacists on patient outcomes and health care costs. A study of phase I published in the Oct. 13, 1997, Archives of Internal Medicine, found that for every dollar spent on medications in nursing facilities, two dollars are spent treating medication-related problems.
The Consultant Pharmacist's Creed is a commitment for each to provide the best medication-related care to elders.
Feroz presented the award and a $5,000 check to Feinberg and Diane E. Tobias, Pharm.D., president of ASCP for their work with elders.
The second ElderCare Award and a $5,000 check were presented to James Pattee, M.D., who has served as medical director at North Ridge Care Center in Minnesota since 1966. He developed and taught the first national certified medical director (CMD) course at the University of Minnesota.
Pattee has also been an active part of the American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) board since 1978. During this time, he has established the CMD program and developed its core curriculum.
Dennis L. Stone, M.D., president of AMDA joined Pattee in thanking Janssen for their recognition and support of the CMD program. Stone said of Pattee, "At a time when we're seeing the role of physician changed from an avocation to a profession and finally to a job, there are still mentors and role models out there that really teach us that, at one time, this was an avocation and we appreciate that."