COLLAGE, The Art & Science of Healthy Aging: Subsidized Housing Living Laboratory Initiative, 2010 is being kicked off this spring and Georgia has been invited to participate. Collage has been a model mostly used in CCRCs. COLLAGE, The Art & Science of Healthy Aging was created in 2005 as a joint venture between Kendal Outreach, LLC, a not-for-profit subsidiary of The Kendal®Corporation, and the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife, a not-forprofit organization affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
COLLAGE is a customized suite of standardized and systematic assessment tools that evaluate health and wellness in areas such as memory loss, nutrition, balance and mental well-being. The information is collected in a national repository and disseminated to a consortium network consisting of continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), congregate senior housing sites, both market rate and subsidized, and senior service agencies. COLLAGE reports are provided to the COLLAGE membership on two platforms: individual resident assessment and organizational performance assessment of sites seek effective interventions, preventive programs and focused services. The collected and analyzed data provide a framework to incorporate ongoing, systematic, and integrated assessment practices combined with evidence-based interventions in order to improve: the ability of older adults to remain independent, · the overall quality, consistency, and continuity of health services across all levels of care,
· the effectiveness of programs and services, and · organizations’ ability to plan for the changing needs of older adults.
Launching a Subsidized Housing Living Laboratory
COLLAGE will be selecting up to 15 subsidized housing sites nationally to participate in a “living laboratory” and mini-consortium of sites using the COLLAGE comprehensive assessment tools. Initial success in using assessment data to drive good decisions has been demonstrated within many of the CCRC communities participating in the program. As an example, Alexian Village of Milwaukee embraced the concept of using empirical data to support “doing the right things.” Initial analysis encouraged the organization to focus on memory loss, pain, and depression in their residents. Ensuing adjustments and interventions resulted in increased resident satisfaction, and a significant reduction in healthcare services and the attendant costs.
Rationale for Using COLLAGE in Subsidized Housing
Using the COLLAGE integrated assessment information tool to capture essential health and wellness information has great potential to help older adults live and age more successfully in affordable housing settings. Similarly, aging services organizations who offer affordable housing services are looking for ways to improve their ability to advise their clients on matters of health, wellness and successful aging; improve their management of risk; and more successfully link their clients to targeted community program and services that facilitate independence and reduce the risk of premature institutionalization.