Holland Home Setting the Standard for On-Campus Resident Care
You may be surprised to learn that it is very rare for senior living communities to have an onsite practice where residents can easily access physicians and advanced care staff. Holland Home is one of those exceptions. Their onsite practice is overseen by Trinity Health Grand Rapids Geriatrics, which boasts ten physicians and eleven advanced practice nursing staff. Their skill sets match the unique needs of the community—geriatrics, palliative, and hospice—so residents can receive care throughout their aging journey. This puts Holland Home in a distinctive position as, according to Holland Home Medical Director Dr. Duemler, “Trinity Health Grand Rapids probably has more geriatricians (5) in our practice than any other single practice in West Michigan.” 
The care that the practice provides is offered at the highest level of quality, with many of the physicians receiving outside recognition for their work. Dr. Duemler was named Clinician of the Year in 2015 by the American Geriatrics Society, and two other physicians, Dr. John Mulder and Dr. Robert Riekse were recognized as “Top Doctors” in 2019 by the Grand Rapids Business Journal.
Compared to some family doctor's offices caring for 3,000 patients in a coverage group, the on-campus practice only sees a fraction of that. “We don’t have a giant office infrastructure, so there isn’t a need to squeeze 15-20 patients into a single day. We can take more time with each patient,” added Dr. Duemler.
While having geriatricians serve as physicians for a senior living facility may seem obvious today, you may be surprised that geriatrics is actually a relatively new field of medicine. In fact, Dr. Duemler was the first fellow ever to graduate from MSU's geriatric fellowship about 30 years ago. The extensive team Holland Home has gathered through its partnership with Trinity Health Grand Rapids speaks to the steps they are taking to provide the highest quality of care for existing residents, as well as their proactive planning for the future as the Baby Boomer population continues to age and find themselves in need of geriatric care.