Eighty-seven percent of seniors want to stay in their own home and community as they age, AARP reports. Rural seniors are no exception, yet they face additional challenges when it comes to important social determinants such as access to transportation and health care services, isolation and loneliness, and food security. Given how America’s older adult population is growing at record rates, innovative approaches are needed to improve rural seniors’ quality of life.
To support older adults living in Minnesota, Montana, and North Dakota, Lutheran Services in America created the Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative. The Collaborative is geared toward older adults living alone, who often are living with multiple comorbidities and/or have high levels of social isolation and depression. The collaborative learning model is committed to developing and implementing solutions that enable older rural adults to maintain their autonomy, improve their health and well-being, and achieve a higher quality of life. With the benefit of independent academic evaluation and validation of program results from professionals as North Dakota State University, the Collaborative continues to leverage the unique assets and resources of rural communities, and develop person-centered approaches to help seniors remain in their homes and communities, living with purpose and meaning. We are seeing great successes in Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana, and expect this valuable collaborative to grow and thrive, and become a national model serving rural seniors across the country.
Resources
- Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative Overview
- Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative Program Summary
- Background: Phase I Results & Phase II Programs
- Montana’s The Missoulian newspaper features progress being made by Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative
- Press Release: Collaborative Earns Additional Grant to Expand Multi-State Efforts
- Press Release: Launch of the Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative
- Blog Post: Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative Boosts Senior Companionship Programs in North Dakota
- Attend the Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative 2019 Training Conference
- National Better Care Playbook Features LSA’s Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative
- Aging Well in Rural America: A Collection of Stories from the Heartland (note Lutheran Services in America on page 11)
- Great Plains Training Conference Recap, October 2019
- Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative OpEd in Aging Today
- Rural Health Information Hub webpage
- How Social Services Can Improve Health Care
For more information about the Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative, contact David Zauche at dzauche@lutheranservices.org.