We Are PALTC

Why don’t we hear more good news about nursing home care?

Hi, I’m Christopher Laxton, Executive Director of AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Post-acute and long-term care medicine is a field that is growing quickly, and shows no sign of slowing down as our elders’ needs for care increases. So why is it that so many people aren’t aware that PALTC professionals are specially trained to practice in this setting? Why don’t we hear more success stories, the tales of joy, comfort, and compassion that happen in this setting every day? Well, now is our time to speak up. Please join me and the Society in our year-long public education campaign, We Are PALTC.

We want to tell the world about our heart-warming experiences and against-the-odds triumphs, and shed some light on the diverse patient population that benefits from PALTC, as well as the highly qualified workforce that cares for this population.

We need your stories to communicate this message. We are looking for letters from you – whether that means you are a patient, a family member of a patient, a health care provider, a staff member in PALTC, or anyone else who works in this setting and can share some of the good news.

We want to hear your unique perspective on what PALTC has done for you.

Take Dr. Laura Morton, for example. She shared with us how she is not only a geriatrician who feels privileged to share the most intimate part of her patients’ lives, but also a daughter who will be forever grateful to the staff at the nursing facility where her father lived after his dementia diagnosis.

Or Sydney, who climbed most of the Colorado fourteeners prior to her MS diagnosis. When she moved into a long-term care facility, working with staff, she used the same strength and irrepressible joy for life to get involved in the local community – visiting the Botanical gardens, and spearheading fundraising drives for the local elementary school and homeless people.

Or Society Board member Dr. Suzanne Gillespie, who in her letter wrote that “Hippocrates said ‘Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.’ I think he might have been talking about PALTC.”

So please – help us spread this different truth about PALTC. That it’s a necessity for a rapidly growing number of people. That it’s a setting that can nurture and improve the quality of life for a unique population. And that the practitioners in the setting are highly trained, creative and innovative problem solvers, and immensely compassionate. Please visit our website to submit your letters and photos now. And thank you!