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COLLAGE is a national membership consortium of older adult communities and aging services providers -- including continuing care, community-based, home care and housing residences -- dedicated to improving the lives, wellbeing and health of their residents/clients. The program provides member organizations with a framework for the application of standardized, systematic and integrated health and wellness assessment information to advance and promote healthy aging.
How does COLLAGE work?
A designated staff person meets with a resident/client for a one-on-one conversation. Questions focus on resident’s/client’s interests, needs, experiences, preferences and challenges. If the staff person and resident identify an area or theme -- such as nutrition, sleep or preventive health maintenance -- that is particularly challenging to maintain, together they determine what may be done about it, and develop a plan for addressing it. The more accurate and comprehensive the information provided, the greater the ability to evaluate and deliver high quality programs and services that match the residents’ needs.
Who developed COLLAGE?
COLLAGE was initiated and developed in 2003 by Kendal Outreach, LLC (kendaloutreach.org), an affiliate of The Kendal Corporation, and the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife (hebrewseniorlife.org), a Massachusetts not-for-profi t corporation. Both organizations collaborate with interRAI, a network of researchers, policymakers and clinicians in over 25 countries committed to improving health care for older people and people with disabilities. interRAI promotes evidence-based practice and informed program development through the collection and interpretation of high quality data from scientifically derived assessment systems.
What will COLLAGE do for Residents/Clients?
COLLAGE will affect residents in different ways. The COLLAGE conversation will give the community staff a better chance to know residents’ interests, needs and preferences, and better plan for the future. It opens ways to enrich residents’ lives within or outside the community. COLLAGE has helped residents who want to develop their own health and wellness plans that may include preventive health maintenance; yoga, balance or exercise training; nutrition; dealing with chronic fatigue; and shower assistance. Armed with a deeper knowledge of resident needs and interests, your community is in a better position to develop programs and services that will improve healthy aging and quality of life.
How is our client's privacy protected?
Information supplied by clients during the COLLAGE conversation is recorded by staff and stored at your organization. In addition, the information is encrypted (made totally unintelligible) and electronically sent automatically to the COLLAGE information repository. Clients' social security, medicare and medicaid numbers are stored and encrypted making it impossible for anyone to read them without the key.
There are over 6000 COLLAGE conversation records housed in the COLLAGE information repository presently. The repository was established so that two non-profits, Kendal and Hebrew SeniorLife, through research that involved COLLAGE consortium organizations, could positively impact the field of aging and public policy in areas including but not limited to nutrition, depression, memory, falls and fitness.
How often will our community staff meet with residents?
COLLAGE encourages staff and residents to meet once every nine months to a year. If health situations were to change, it may be good to have additional conversations to review temporary services that may be needed.
Why did my community join the COLLAGE consortium?
To provide a better range, quality and depth of services for the wellbeing of those who live in your community. COLLAGE is one step in an effort to support independence, flexibility and choice for all residents and maintain ways to enrich wellbeing for each person in five core areas: physical, social, emotional, vocational and intellectual. COLLAGE often fits perfectly with the goals of member communities for healthy aging – to strengthen the body, inspire the mind and nurture the spirit of each person.
What staff in other communities are saying about COLLAGE:
"Our acute care statistics speak for themselves: since utilizing COLLAGE, hospitalizations dropped from 173 in 2004 to 137 in 2006; pain as a reason for hospital admission dropped from 11 in 2004 to 4 in 2006. This is very significant."
"We are proactive in identifying both strengths and weaknesses using the COLLAGE tool. COLLAGE ensures that we are asking the right questions and gathering the right data. The detailed information that we have on each resident is used to promote our wellness program."
"The most important thing that COLLAGE has brought to the community is solid hard core clinical data for decision making. In the past it’s been hit and miss, someone’s opinion, our decisions were too subjective and not based on good data."
"The COLLAGE tool has really been a help to not only me but a lot of the other departments I’m working with. I’m finding a larger scope of people that could use a lot more assistance in their daily activities."