From Northampton County: Lamont McClure and the Department of Human Services are pleased to report that the Pennsylvania Coalition of Affiliated Healthcare & Living Communities (PACAH) awarded Gracedale Nursing Home a 2018 Innovation Award for a pilot program in Mental Health and Aging. Northampton County launched the program last fall with Haven House, providing services for older individuals who reside at Gracedale and suffer with mental illness.
“We appreciate PACAH for recognizing the importance of this unique program,” says Lamont McClure. “It has the potential to deliver huge benefits to families struggling to keep their elderly relatives in safe and secure housing where they can access the care they need.”
The Mental Health/Aging Program (MH/AP) is not a twenty-four hour on-call service, but provides 1:1 counseling and support to address behavioral challenges. Seniors with mental illness can be difficult to place or can be at high risk of losing their placements. Haven House provides behavioral interventions for patients and technical assistance for care providers.
MH/AP is funded by mental health base funding and Gracedale dollars. It is not a treatment program and does not provide nursing, “severe” crisis intervention, emergency placement or transfer services. Its focus is on enhancing daily life, trouble-shooting behavioral challenges and providing support in order for targeted individuals to maintain their residency.
The program is currently being tested at Gracedale. If it is successful, it may be implemented at other facilities.
Blogger's Note: According to its webpage, PACAH was formed in 1951 to represent county nursing facilities. Now, PACAH represents over 143 diverse long-term living and supports providers and associated businesses, including both county, veterans, private, and non-profit nursing facilities.
2 comments:
Nice award. Heard that Ms. Hefner was not happy that Gracedale was put on the agenda the last meeting. Why would that get her angry?
I doubt that is true. It would be pretty stupid to try and hide information about a public facility.
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