MetroHealth partners with Cleveland Metroparks, announces senior care centers

MetroHealth will open early next year the first of many new senior care centers designed as a one-stop-shop where patients can seek care that reduces the impact of illnesses, and focuses instead on health, Dr. Akram Boutros, president and CEO, announced at the system's annual stakeholder meeting on Thursday, Sept. 23.

The Spry Senior Care initiative, the first of which will be in Solon, was just one of several announcements made during the event held, fittingly, at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, where Boutros also announced that MetroHealth will become the official healthcare partner of Cleveland Metroparks.

Through a five-year partnership, the two will leverage their shared commitment to wellness, collaborate on several hallmark events and plan to work together on future opportunities to celebrate diversity in the communities they serve.

Boutros also recapped the system's recent changes in equity leadership and unveiled MetroHealth's new brand identity, which includes a new logo and the tagline: "Devoted to hope, health, and humanity."

"This is a creed that welcomes those in need, wraps them in a kind of caring that goes far beyond medical care," Boutros said in his prepared remarks for the event. "It is also a declaration. One that draws to MetroHealth thousands of people called to answer those needs. … Employees and suppliers, business and community partners who, like MetroHealth are devoted to hope, health and humanity."

The new logo is a series of different colored dots that represent the diversity of MetroHealth and combine to form the Community Cross, a universal sign of aid, safety, comfort and health.

"Each dot also represents the variety of services we provide our patients," Boutros said in his remarks. "Medical care, of course, but so much more beyond that from free healthy food to housing assistance, legal aid to career counseling and so much more."

So far, MetroHealth has at least four locations identified for its new senior care sites, Boutros said, adding that he aims to have 20 to 25 locations in the next three to five years. They'll be located not in larger medical buildings but in strip malls or standalone locations.

Doctors won't see 20 patients a day, but fewer than six, and spend at least an hour with each. These doctor's offices may also offer services from a behavioral health therapist, a pharmacist, a dietitian, a podiatrist, a health coach, a dentist or an optometrist. He envisions not waiting rooms, but activity rooms and gathering spaces. The centers may offer stretching exercises, cooking classes, yoga or strength training.

"We are developing it because it is absolutely clear that the current healthcare system is not dealing well or providing the services necessary for our fastest growing population," Boutros said. "They're experiencing major health issues. They're experiencing major social issues. And their care and coordination is being left to children and grandchildren who are trying to fit it into multitudes of other priorities."

Boutros also recapped the acceleration of the system's plans for its Hospital in the Home program, which was kicked into high gear in the past year. The future of healthcare is one where the patient can receive the kind of care they want, when they want it and where they want it, including at home, which MetroHealth will begin rolling out soon.

The partnership between MetroHealth and the Metroparks fits well into the health system's campus transformation, in which it is making over its 52-acre main campus on West 25th Street. The new campus will feature green space, walking paths, gardens and access to Cleveland Metroparks' portion of the Towpath Trail. The campus transformation is on budget and on schedule to be completed in 2025, Boutros said.

The partnership also builds on a new Cleveland Metroparks mobile app presented by MetroHealth to encourage fitness and exercise throughout the more than 24,000 acres of nature in the park system.

"Our partnership with MetroHealth and the impact our collective efforts can have on the community is significant," Brian Zimmerman, CEO of Cleveland Metroparks, said in a provided statement. "Together we can offer a holistic approach to wellness that extends throughout Northeast Ohio."