Presbyterian SeniorCare Network, the region’s largest aging services provider, has been awarded one of four $500,000 grants from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to help seniors in its affordable housing communities to receive primary care, health education, and support to age well, living their best lives.
Residents in low-income supportive housing face many barriers when seeking and receiving adequate primary care. The Network’s project emphasizes collaboration among service coordinators, primary care providers, and residents to create better outcomes. Early intervention and self-management will be emphasized, preventing the need for a higher level of care.
“Many older adults living in low-income supportive housing lose what matters to them because of a lack of health literacy and avoidable hospitalizations,” said Celeste Golonski, president of SeniorCare Network, which is the organization’s supportive and affordable housing service line. “We are grateful for the Henry L. Hillman Foundation’s support to help us achieve our vision to infuse primary care into our existing community-based social model.”
The Network was one of four recipients of the Foundation’s Healthy Aging Challenge. The Foundation sought proposals that would improve the quality of life for older adults in the region.
“Southwestern Pennsylvania’s population continues to grow older at a rate faster than the rest of the country, so we have to do more to ensure our region’s residents have the supportive care for safe and healthy aging,” said David K. Roger, foundation president. “Our goal was to better understand current challenges in the region and help advance great ideas to support aging well. The four Healthy Aging Challenge finalists are organizations and partnerships with extensive track records of caring for older populations and innovating when resources are limited. Aging affects all of us, but in different ways. The work that these organizations are doing now and will do in the future will benefit to a wide cross section of the region’s population.”
The Henry L. Hillman Foundation launched the $2 million Healthy Aging Challenge in January to encourage nonprofit organizations to submit ideas for transformational, equitable, and scalable opportunities to leverage the assets and value of the region’s aging population and support current and future caregiving. Partnerships with for-profit organizations, public health agencies, and educational institutions were encouraged, and all proposals had to include the participation of a member of the older adult community and/or a caregiver working in the field of elder care.
Presbyterian SeniorCare Network and three other finalists were selected through a review process that included peer-to-peer evaluation among the 29 applicants and review by a panel of 27 local and national experts and industry leaders.
For more information about the Network’s project, visit Healthyagingchallenge.org or https://www.healthyagingchallenge.org/awardees/collaborative-wellness-model.
About the Henry L. Hillman Foundation
The Henry L. Hillman Foundationworks to ensure that Pittsburgh’s considerable strengths, assets, and advantages are fully leveraged to make it one of the world’s most innovative and forward-looking cities, building on the late Henry L. Hillman’s legacy for solving big problems through civic leadership and collaboration. Henrylhillmanfoundation.org
About Presbyterian SeniorCare Network:
For more than 90 years, Presbyterian SeniorCare Network has been focused on Making Aging Easier® for older adults and their families. The nonprofit, faith-based organization serves more than 6,500 older adults through in-home and community-based programs across 11 Western Pennsylvania counties. It offers personal care and skilled nursing communities; specialized Alzheimer’s and dementia care; more than 30 affordable and supportive housing communities; and many other service lines dedicated to enriching the aging experience. www.SrCare.org
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