Meeting the needs of unpartnered elders: a peer training program involving elders with myocardial infarction

Myocardia infarction (MI) is the leading cause of death in elderly adults. For those elderly who do recover, results are less than optimal when compared to those seen with younger patients. With a shortened length of stay in hospitals for elderly MI patients, and an increase in life expectancy that leads to an estimated 33 million elders in the U.S. population, there is a growing community-based population of elders who are recovering from MI. The use of elders as peer advisors has been demonstrated to be a cost-effective method of promoting health and enhancing recovery, with only a modest investment of the professional healthcare provider's time and money. An innovative, low-cost intervention matches recent MI elders who are unpartnered--and at higher risk for morbidity and mortality than partnered elders--to a peer advisor who has also survived acute MI in the past.