CYF Update 6/11/21
June 11, 2021
June 11, 2021
May 28, 2021
March 11, 2022
January 7, 2022
June 22, 2020
RRF Foundation for Aging recently awarded Lutheran Services in America a grant to conduct a year-long process evaluation of LSA Senior Connect, an enhanced service coordinator program piloted in Toledo, Ohio. The grant will allow researchers from the LTSS Center @UMass Boston to explore how LSA Senior Connect was implemented, with an eye toward informing and guiding replication of LSA Senior Connect in additional low-income and affordable housing communities for older adults. The study will also contribute to ongoing policy discussions addressing the need for increased investment in supportive services delivered in low-income and affordable housing for older adults across the country.
LSA Senior Connect is a person-centered service coordination model developed by Lutheran Services in America and 13 of its member organizations for supporting low-income older adults with chronic health illness within their homes and communities. LSA Senior Connect retrains caregivers to assess the needs of older adults, creates individualized care plans driven by the older adult, and connects the older adult to services and supports that could help them improve their health and quality of life while maintaining their independence.
Thirteen low-income and affordable housing sites of Genacross Lutheran Services in Toledo, Ohio, implemented LSA Senior Connect in February 2019. Initial screening of residents in the program identified unmet needs for social determinants of health including nutrition, transportation, social isolation, home safety, and mobility. For more than a year, service coordinators in the program have been working to address these needs by providing program participants with access to such services as healthy food, reliable transportation to medical appointments, in-home supports, and physical therapy.
The LTSS Center will conduct qualitative in-depth interviews of Lutheran Services in America and Genacross Lutheran Services staff, service coordinators, property managers, residents, and community partners over the next year to evaluate the process. The study of this implementation will guide replication efforts of this enhanced service coordination program and help increase investment in support services delivered for older adults at home.
More than 200 member organizations in Lutheran Services in America’s network of 300 nonprofit health and human service providers serve the needs of older adults.
January 30, 2020
The Aging and Disability Business Institute and National Council on Aging announced the selection of Lutheran Services in America and 10 other community-based organizations (CBOs) and networks to participate in the 2020 Medicare Advantage Learning Collaborative. Participants selected:
Over the next six months, these participants will be engaged in a curriculum focused on building the knowledge and skills needed to successfully pursue contracts with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans for home and community-based services. Supported by targeted technical assistance, a peer learning network and a platform to share learnings, participants will come away from the learning collaborative with increased knowledge of MA plans, a broader understanding of MA plans’ quality and performance drivers, knowledge of promising practices for MA plan contracting and a customized value proposition.
January 10, 2020
The Commonwealth Fund featured a story on LSA Senior Connect as part of a focus on the merits of community-based organizations in their January 2020 newsletter. LSA Senior Connect is a service coordination platform that offers a unique, national solution in a fragmented health and human services landscape. The program is being piloted among 465 residents of a low-income senior housing facility in Toledo, Ohio. Staff social workers were trained to conduct a comprehensive screening of residents’ mobility and functional skills, home safety and security, nutrition, transportation, and social engagement. Lutheran Services in America President and CEO Charlotte Haberaecker notes that the program’s goal is to identify folks before they become high need.
Scroll down to “The Role of Community-Based Organizations” section to read the article.
January 6, 2020
The latest issue of Living Lutheran magazine features Lutheran Services in America’s Results Innovation Lab and how the program equips leaders with the skills necessary to improve health, safety, stability and education for 20,000 at-risk youth by 2024. Lutheran Services in America President and CEO Charlotte Haberaecker notes how the Lab’s participants come out of these intense, interactive trainings with a better understanding on how to create strategic partnerships in addressing challenges that face the communities they serve. Due to the program’s success, Lutheran Services in America expects to add more participants to the Lab for a total of 50 member organizations in 40 states.
Read the article published in the January 2020 issue of Living Lutheran.
April 21, 2022
April 14, 2022
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