LEBANON — A Hanover philanthropist has donated $10 million in honor of his late wife to establish a “hospital without walls” at Dartmouth Health to provide at-home care to older adults throughout Northern New England.
Kenneth R. French, the Roth Family Distinguished Professor of Finance, emeritus at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, donated the money to establish the Vickie French Hospital at Home, which “will be designed to bring the power of modern medicine directly to patients in their homes,” according to a news release from Dartmouth Health.
Those home-provided services will include hospital-level care for conditions such as pneumonia and heart failure, post-operative care, early medical discharge, and palliative and rehabilitation care.
Services are directed at “less medically complex patients and most advanced monitoring is from heartrate and blood pressure monitoring devices,” spokesperson Audra Burns wrote in an email. “If needed, there would be a combination of telehealth or in-person consultations.”
That’s different from what Dartmouth Health Home Care — formerly known as Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire — does, as they treat people who have already been discharged from the hospital, Burns said. “Think of the new Hospital at Home as if this program didn’t exist, these patients would need to be in a traditional brick and mortar hospital.” The new program builds on services Dartmouth Health already provides through Dartmouth Health Home Care.
“Vickie and I spent a great deal of time thinking about what it means to age in rural northern New England, where people are often forced to travel long distances to reach the nearest hospital or a specialist,” French said in the release. “Vickie believed — and I believe— that it doesn’t have to be that way. The technology and knowledge exist to bring it all together in a way that truly works for rural communities.”
Vickie French, who died this January, was a dedicated philanthropist, according to her obituary. In 2014, she received the International Rescue Committee’s “Humanitarian of the Year” award.
“Vickie loved reading, spending time with friends, traveling, playing pickleball, and caring for the family dogs and her seven beloved grandkids,” according to her obituary. “She also loved hosting friends, who always appreciated her generosity and easy-going nature.”
The new program will allow providers to treat patients for conditions that they would ordinarily have to travel to medical centers for, Dr. Nathan E. Goldstein, chair of the department of medicine at Dartmouth Health and a geriatrics professor at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, said in the release.
“For older patients, the home is where they heal best, feel safest, and retain the greatest sense of connectedness to their families and their community,” Goldstein said in the release. “With the launch of the Vickie French Hospital at Home program, we will be able to deliver this quality of care to our communities for the first time.”
The Frenches have been long supporters of DH programs and in 2008 donated money for Dartmouth Health Children’s Child Advocacy and Protection Program according to the release. The Ken & Vickie French Child Advocacy and Protection Program was started “to evaluate and advocate for and provide integrative care to suspected victims of child maltreatment,” according to a description on the program’s webpage.
