Partners in Care and Family Care Partnership will identify ways to expand access to vital services
For immediate release
Monday, January 26, 2009
Jody Dunn, Regional Director,
Family Care Partnership 818-837-3775 Ext 138 jdunn@picf.org
René Seidel, The SCAN Foundation
562-308-2862 rseidel@thescanfoundation.org
The SCAN Foundation Funds New Program for Santa Clarita and South Los Angeles Seniors and Those Who Care For Them
Planning Grant to Partners in Care will identify ways to expand access to vital services
Long Beach, Calif. - The SCAN Foundation today announced it has awarded a $200,000 twelve month planning grant to San Fernando Valley based Partners in Care Foundation (Partners) with the goal of expanding access to community-based long-term care services for seniors and caregivers in the Santa Clarita Valley and South Los Angeles. Planning for the Santa Clarita effort will commence this month while the South Los Angeles effort will kick-off on July 1st.
The program calls for Partners to create the “Family Care Partnership” that will develop, test, and disseminate best practices in aging, disability, and long-term care services. Members of the Partnership for the Santa Clarita Valley include the core collaborators of the Santa Clarita Adult Day Health Care Center, Alzheimer’s Association, the Los Angeles Caregiver Resource Center, California Health Innovation Center of Partners in Care, College of the Canyons and the Heart and Stroke Association. Additional members include the Center for Healthcare Rights, Grandparents as Parents, LETMESAIL, North Los Angeles Regional Center and the San Fernando Valley Multipurpose Senior Services Center (MSSP). The South Los Angeles collaborative will be assembled soon.
In addition to improving access to services, a portion of the grant will be used to develop a plan for a new “under-one-roof” facility in Santa Clarita staffed by Partnership member agencies, as well as a call-center providing brief assessments and referrals, thereby making it easier for seniors and their caregivers to access the array of services provided by the Partnership.
Partners has accepted a challenge grant by the Foundation, to replicate the Family Care Partnership model at a second site to be located in South Los Angeles.
Dr. Bruce Chernof, M.D., President and CEO of The SCAN Foundation said the program envisioned by Partners is an excellent example of how long term care for America’s growing senior population is changing.
“Seniors want to remain healthy and independent in whatever settings are most appropriate to meeting their needs. For most persons, that setting is in their own home. The challenges are to design care models that help care providers coordinate their services and promote easier access to those services. We think the Partners initiative is a leading of example of how to address those challenges.”
Founded in 1997, Partners collaborates with health systems, social service agencies, and public organizations to develop and test models that better integrate and deliver services in order to enhance seniors’ ability to remain at home and to maintain or restore the best health and highest level of functioning possible.
In addition to serving as the lead agency for research and evaluation projects and developing partnerships to increase access to care, Partners also provides direct services through a Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), an Adult Day Health Center (ADHC), and two Adult Day Programs in Los Angeles.
About The SCAN Foundation
The SCAN Foundation is an independent nonprofit foundation dedicated to advancing the development of a sustainable continuum of quality care for seniors that integrates medical treatment and human services in the settings most appropriate to their needs and with the greatest likelihood of a healthy, independent life.
The SCAN Foundation supports programs that stimulate public engagement, develop realistic public policy and financing options, and disseminate promising care models and technologies. The SCAN Foundation was created through a contribution by SCAN Health Plan, a nonprofit Medicare Advantage organization based in California.
About Partners in Care Foundation
Partners in Care (Partners) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to serve as a catalyst for shaping a new vision of health care by partnering with organizations, families and community leaders in the work of changing healthcare systems, changing communities and changing lives.
We work to develop more effective, more efficient approaches to improve quality of life for diverse individuals and communities, targeting the most at-risk. Successful models are replicated in leading local, regional and national organizations. Partners became a freestanding non-profit organization in 1997.
Partners is now a nationally recognized leader in promoting innovative community and home approaches in geriatric care management, health promotion, chronic disease management, end of life care, addressing ethnic health disparities and introducing positive practice change. With an annual operating budget of more than $9 million, Partners has an extensive history in testing, adapting and disseminating evidence-based models.
www.picf.org
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