Edwin Fonner,
Jr., DrPH
This is a proposal from the Eldercare Committee to CHC’s Board of Directors. We will convene a leadership group and conduct a strategic planning effort. Our focus is on the needs of elderly rural residents in the region. We want to develop a work plan to recast health and social services delivery for the elderly.
Rationale for Project. There are growing numbers of elderly in the region that are increasingly frail and have multiple chronic conditions. Many live alone in isolated rural communities. Their family caregivers are dwindling in numbers. Most communities are medically underserved. Our aim is to ensure that the elderly maintain a high quality of life and live independently as long as possible through better regional planning and service coordination. If regional, institutional, and community design affects behavior and health, currently we are employing the wrong design. We feel that it is necessary to completely recast the eldercare delivery system rather than pursue incremental changes.
Project Objectives. Our project objectives are tied to CHC’s strategic plan – to collect data, identify gaps, inventory programs, improve customer service, enhance communications on health issues, and foster collaborative relationships. Proposed work will be conducted in two phases – Phase One in 6 months and Phase Two in 2 to 3 years:
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1. We will assemble a group of providers and community members (i.e., “stakeholders” and “shareholders”) to identify an achievable set of system changes, build a better eldercare model, and create a work plan for reconfiguring the present system to the model. The group will select prospective pilot sites, identify needed capacity enhancements, and secure external funding.
2. Funded externally, we will develop an explicit system of care meeting program participants’ needs. We will identify and engage socially isolated and homebound elderly in a reengineered, patient-centered eldercare program. Over the longer term, we will strengthen the region’s delivery system with training opportunities, community development, and reinvestment of savings from reduced duplication.