OUR MISSION
Southwest Center on Aging is a practice dedicated to providing the very best primary care possible to older adults. Through teamwork, communication and training we ingrained our Mission to our providers and support team. Here are the principles of how we live every day:
- Focus on function and quality of life
- Focus on managing chronic disease(s) and developing chronic care treatment models
- Identify and manage psychological and social aspects of care
- Respect the patient’s dignity and autonomy
- Respect cultural and spiritual beliefs
- Be sensitive to the patient’s financial condition
- Promote wellness and healthy aging
- Listen and communicate effectively
- Take a patient-centered approach to care and a customer-focused approach to service
- Realistically promote optimism and hope
- Employ a team approach to patient care
- Commit to clinical excellence throughout the continuity of care
THE CONTINUITY OF PATIENT CARE
Continuity of care is the process by which the patient and the physician are cooperatively involved in ongoing health care management toward the goal of high quality, cost-effective medical care.
Continuity of care is a hallmark and primary objective of family medicine and is consistent with quality patient care. The continuity of care inherent in Geriatric Medicine helps physicians gain their patients’ confidence and enables physicians to be more effective patient advocates. It also facilitates the physician's role as a cost-effective coordinator of the patient's health services by making early recognition of problems possible. Continuity of care is rooted in a long-term patient-physician partnership in which the physician knows the patient’s history from experience and can integrate new information and decisions from a whole-patient perspective efficiently without extensive investigation or record review.
Continuity of care is facilitated by a physician-led, team-based approach to health care. Thus, Southwest Center on Aging supports the role of physicians in providing continuity of care to their patients in all settings, both directly and by coordination of care with other health care professionals.
Continuity of care is a hallmark and primary objective of family medicine and is consistent with quality patient care. The continuity of care inherent in Geriatric Medicine helps physicians gain their patients’ confidence and enables physicians to be more effective patient advocates. It also facilitates the physician's role as a cost-effective coordinator of the patient's health services by making early recognition of problems possible. Continuity of care is rooted in a long-term patient-physician partnership in which the physician knows the patient’s history from experience and can integrate new information and decisions from a whole-patient perspective efficiently without extensive investigation or record review.
Continuity of care is facilitated by a physician-led, team-based approach to health care. Thus, Southwest Center on Aging supports the role of physicians in providing continuity of care to their patients in all settings, both directly and by coordination of care with other health care professionals.
HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST CENTER ON AGING
Southwest Center on Aging is a unique practice dedicated to caring for older adults across the spectrum of care in the state of New Mexico. We see patients in our clinics across the Dona Ana County area and beyond, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, rehabilitation hospital, and even your own homes. Today, we have about a whole host of support staff endeavoring to deliver the very best geriatric healthcare possible to our seniors who consider us their primary healthcare providers.
In the Beginning. During residency, J. Roberto Duran, III, MD., realized the needs of geriatric patient and how unique they were compare to rest of his patients. He’s hunger for learn more about these population let him to do a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX., followed by a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Duran worked at Methodist Hospital in Houston, but he always wanted to come back to his roots close to the border. In 2008, Dr. Duran moved to Las Cruces, NM as the only geriatrician to start a geriatric practice in the community.
The Vision. In January of 2010, created Southwest Center on Aging: a private geriatric-only primary care practice. Yet they had great faith in their vision of a new paradigm in geriatric care—a vision they knew they could realize. They knew that the growing population of seniors across the state of New Mexico created great demand on our health care system—a demand that would not otherwise be met. They worked hard to develop an effective person-centered, low-tech geriatric model. Following conservative geriatric medical principals and looking after their patients throughout the continuum of care. The combined expertise of our organization through the years, now melded into one medical practice, completes an integral "Continuity of Care" for our patients, offering innovations on older adult care.
In the Beginning. During residency, J. Roberto Duran, III, MD., realized the needs of geriatric patient and how unique they were compare to rest of his patients. He’s hunger for learn more about these population let him to do a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX., followed by a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Duran worked at Methodist Hospital in Houston, but he always wanted to come back to his roots close to the border. In 2008, Dr. Duran moved to Las Cruces, NM as the only geriatrician to start a geriatric practice in the community.
The Vision. In January of 2010, created Southwest Center on Aging: a private geriatric-only primary care practice. Yet they had great faith in their vision of a new paradigm in geriatric care—a vision they knew they could realize. They knew that the growing population of seniors across the state of New Mexico created great demand on our health care system—a demand that would not otherwise be met. They worked hard to develop an effective person-centered, low-tech geriatric model. Following conservative geriatric medical principals and looking after their patients throughout the continuum of care. The combined expertise of our organization through the years, now melded into one medical practice, completes an integral "Continuity of Care" for our patients, offering innovations on older adult care.