COLLAGE to Revitalize
October 2013
COLLAGE is going through a significant revitalization and will become Vitalize 360 in 2014. The nature of the new program centers on five strategic elements:
- The use of personalized Vitality Plans that inspire and challenge residents to create meaningful, vibrant lives
- The training and development of successful wellness coaches
- A heightened and critical role of the interdisciplinary team to expand support for the older adult and wellness coach
- Integration with annual Medicare wellness visit
- Outcome data in real time for the older adults, coaches, interdisciplinary teams, managers and executives that measures critical information needed to improve wellness and successful aging for communities and individuals
What does it mean to be a vital, vibrant community?
- Grow “activated” residents
- Measure health and wellness outcomes
- Improve community health that’s discernible
- Benchmark successful aging performance
- Bend the cost curve
Read more about the new program HERE
Brewster Place, Topeka, Launches CMS Community-Based Care Transition Demonstration Project
August 2013
A coalition of Topeka area health care providers lead by Brewster Place, a COLLAGE member, has been approved for a CMS Affordable Care Act demonstration project called the Community Based Care Transition Program Medicare Demonstration (CCTP). The demonstration is designed to identify strategies that improve care transitions and reduce hospital readmissions to Stormont-Vail and St. Francis and began August 12, 2013.
The Topeka project has been approved for a two year demonstration and is the only one of its kind in Kansas. More information about the strategy and implementation plan is available HERE.
Pines Village Retirement Communities Joins COLLAGE
April 2013
Valparaiso, IN – Pines Village Retirement Communities, Inc., a not-for-profit retirement continuing care community in Valparaiso, Indiana, has joined COLLAGE, The Art & Science of Healthy Aging®, a national consortium of aging services organization using a holistic, evidence-based assessment system to improve healthy aging outcomes and quality of life.
“Pines Village has always been a trendsetter in the development and implementation of services for older adults,” says Lu Krieger-Blake, MSW, LCSW, Social Worker, Pines Village Retirement Communities. “As the first community in Indiana to join the COLLAGE consortium, we continue that rich tradition of leadership in providing enhanced services to our residents and our community. We anticipate that the Healthy Aging Plan developed from the COLLAGE assessment system will provide our residents the motivation and resources they need to live even more successfully.”
To read the full press release, click HERE
Friends Life Care Joins COLLAGE
March 2013
Friends Life Care, a Quaker non-profit senior health care organization headquartered in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., has joined COLLAGE, The Art & Science of Healthy Aging®. COLLAGE is a national consortium of aging services organizations using a holistic, evidence-based assessment system to improve healthy aging outcomes and quality of life.
“Our new partnership with COLLAGE is truly exciting as it further enables our significant ongoing commitment to healthy aging for our members,” said Elise Lamarra, Vice President of Clinical Operations at Friends Life Care. “Our mission is to help people age in place with VigR™, our program for Vitality, Independence, Growth and Resilience. We constantly strive to help our members stave off the effects of aging, and COLLAGE will be an integral component in achieving that goal. With COLLAGE, we will be using an evidence-based assessment system to assist our members to live successful, healthy lifestyles. The synergy between the goals of the two organizations is amazing, and therefore the launch of this partnership is, by far, one of the most positive developments in our 25-year history!”
To read the full press release, click HERE
COLLAGE After LeadingAge Denver
November 2012
We've already begun connecting with some of you following the LeadingAge Denver conference and exhibition. To those of you we haven't touch based yet, thank you for your initial interest in learning more about COLLAGE! We would like to connect with each of you at least one time post conference.
There are any number of ways for you to learn more about our program on your own or with a little help. Here are the top 9, not necessarily in order of importance – just click on the accompanying link, if interested:
- Request a one-page description of Vitalize 360, our new enterprise, out in 2013.
- Arrange a conference call with COLLAGE and your leadership team to learn more about the program.
- Sit in on our next one-hour webinar, November 28.
- Download the presentation slide deck from the LeadingAge session, COLLAGE: An Assessment Tool to Improve Wellness Outcomes. This session was presented by Diana Cox, Kendal at Hanover, Hanover, NH; Diana Delgado, Eaton Senior Communities, Lakewood, CO; and, Joan Krueger, Longwood at Home, Oakmont, PA.
- Request collateral such as sample individual or aggregate reports.
- Review our FAQ document.
- View several short videos (starting with second one from top).
- Request a list of COLLAGE members to connect with.
- Read a recent New York Times or Boston Globe article about the program.
COLLAGE at LeadingAge in Denver
September 2012
COLLAGE will be at LeadingAge in Denver -- members will be leading presentations and exhibiting with us -- will you?
Two presentations by members include:
- Community-Based Care Coordination for Aging in Place
Monday, October 22, 3:30-5:00 PM: Session 9-C
Presented by Ellen O'Connor and Jeanne Read, Fairport Baptist Homes, Fairport, NY.
- COLLAGE: An Assessment Tool to Improve Wellness Outcomes
Monday, October 22, 3:30-5:00 PM: Session 182-C
Presented by Diana Cox, Kendal at Hanover, Hanover, NH; Diana Delgado, Eaton Senior Communities, Lakewood, CO; and, Joan Krueger, Longwood at Home, Oakmont, PA.
COLLAGE will be exhibiting in booth 2130. The NEW streamlined assessment system will be demonstrated! Learn about:
- The new Wellness and Core Assessments
- The assessment process -- we'll map it for you
- How organizations with multiple settings are benefiting -- what is the value-added?
- New approaches to wellness programming and service development -- based on assessment data
- Easy-to-run individual and aggregate reports and how sites are using them
- 18 new shared “Ad Hoc” reports now in a shared “library” for on-demand member access
- Future direction -- integrating Vitality 360 and COLLAGE -- implications for program development
COLLAGE and Vitality 360 Featured in Boston Globe Article
August 2012
COLLAGE was featured in an article in the Boston Globe on August 23! A few article excerpts are below:
- "Vitality 360 is part of an ambitious project called COLLAGE, which was created in 2003 as a joint venture between Hebrew SeniorLife’s Institute for Aging Research, a nonprofit affiliated with Harvard Medical School, and Kendal Outreach, a nonprofit arm of the Kendal Corp., a system of services and communities for older adults in eight states. COLLAGE has been developing a suite of assessment tools and programs, such as Vitality 360, to optimize well-being for older adults."
- "The aim is to change the way we think about aging," said John N. Morris, director of social and health policy research at Hebrew SeniorLife’s Institute for Aging Research. COLLAGE has gathered health and wellness profiles on more than 10,000 adults 65 and older at 60 retirement communities and aging housing locations in 20 states, he said. “This is a revolutionary concept. It is about reaching out to healthy elders and asking, ‘How can we go forward in a way that might work differently?’
- “Our program is raising the bar for seniors,” Russotto said. “At this stage in life, seniors are dealing with loss — loss of role, loss of family, loss of friends, loss of spouse. We help to empower them again. We focus on what they can still do. They can still have goals. It is not just about what happened in their lives but what will happen, and how they can direct that."
- Russotto said the assessment tool in COLLAGE is allowing the success of Vitality 360 to be tracked, which is crucial. Fitness is a main component, she said, but it is motivated by goals that are often larger such as writing a memoir, or volunteering in the community, or playing a leadership role in one’s family, and wanting to possess the physical capacity to do these things.
- “What we’re seeing through our program is that seniors are becoming more active, more involved, and reporting greater satisfaction in the quality of their life and greater satisfaction in their health. We’re seeing that we have a tremendous increase in participation in our fitness programs,” Russotto said.
COLLAGE To Release New Streamlined Assessment System
June 2012
Kennett Square, PA – COLLAGE, a national membership consortium of aging services organizations using an evidence-based assessment system to improve outcomes of older adults living independently, plans to release the Core Assessment and Comprehensive Assessment, a new streamlined version of its current assessment system on July 12.
The new Core Assessment is intended to address typical needs of well older adults and will include just 45 items, about one fourth of the items in the assessment currently being used. It will take about 25 to 35 minutes to complete and allow membership organizations for the first time to significantly streamline the assessment process.
To read the full press release, click here
COLLAGE Launches New Personal Wellness Profile Report
May 2012
Kennett Square, PA – COLLAGE has just released a significant product advance that will give member organizations stronger tools to improve healthy aging outcomes using its Web-based assessment system. Colorful, completely automated and easy-to-run, the new Personal Wellness Profile report was created for member organizations to easily share with their residents as part of the annual assessment process. It feature a simple evidence-based score (1 to 5) in each of nine healthy aging domains including: Cognitive Performance, Community Involvement, Emotional, Health, Physical Activities, Religious Participation, Social Engagement, Social Life, and Weight Status.
To read the full press release, click here
New York Times Article Features COLLAGE
May 2012
COLLAGE was prominently featured in the May 9, 2012 issue of The New York Times. The article, “Fitness Regimens, Well Beyond Shuffleboard” by Elizabeth Olsen, focused on the push of some aging services organizations for more structured data-based wellness and fitness programs…to systematically help seniors fend off frailty and the effects of age-related diseases.
To read the full article, click here
Carroll Lutheran Village Receives Promising Practices Award for Wellness Programming
April 2012
Evanston, IL – Carroll Lutheran Village (CLV), a continuing care community in Westminster, Maryland, and COLLAGE member has received the Promising Practices Award from Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging for its Healthy Aging Open House Series. In the words of the Institute, “[we] are committed to recognizing organizations that strive to serve older adults in original and exciting ways” and especially communities “…which are moving away from conventional practices by developing and implementing new and innovative approaches in working with older adults.”
To read the full press release, click here
COLLAGE, The Art & Science of Healthy Aging® Launches New Aggregate Profiler Tool
February 2012
Kennett Square, PA – COLLAGE, a national membership consortium of aging services organizations, has launched a new Aggregate Profiler Reporting Tool, a significant product enhancement that will give member organizations easy and immediate access to valuable data to improve healthy aging outcomes using its Web-based assessment system.
The new report generation tool, just released, allows users to create on-demand frequency distributions (count and percent) for any of hundreds of data items in the portfolio of COLLAGE assessments. Members can enter a specific date range for assessments to be included in the report. In addition to producing member’s data, the report generation tool includes “comparison data” in the form of percentages based on assessment data from all COLLAGE members nationwide. Having access to comparative data is a unique and powerful data mining feature, and is something that is only available in a collaborative consortium model like COLLAGE.
To read the full press release, click here
Brewster Place, Topeka, Kansas, Joins COLLAGE
December 2011
Topeka, KS – Brewster Place (www.brewsterplace.org), a not-for-profit continuing care community based in Topeka, Kansas, has joined COLLAGE, The Art & Science of Healthy Aging®, a national consortium of aging services organizations using a holistic, evidence-based assessment system to improve healthy aging outcomes and quality of life.
“We are excited to be a part of the COLLAGE consortium,” said David Beck, President and CEO of Brewster Place. “The COLLAGE program is an essential tool in Brewster’s plan to develop a culture of wellness on our campus, develop our at-home services in the larger community, and to develop a care transitions interventions program. We see COLLAGE serving as an excellent quality measure for us and as a unifying element as our nation’s health care system shifts its emphasis to wellness and preventative services.”
To read the full press release, click here
The Meth-Wick Community, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Joins COLLAGE
November 2011
Cedar Rapids, IA – The Meth-Wick Community, a not-for-profit continuing care community based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has joined COLLAGE, The Art & Science of Healthy Aging®, a national consortium of aging services organizations using a holistic, evidence-based assessment system to improve healthy aging outcomes and quality of life.
“The Meth-Wick Community is excited to partner with COLLAGE,” said Eryn Cronbaugh, Director of Wellness and Recreation, The Meth-Wick Community. “Joining the COLLAGE consortium gives us a framework as we strive to live out our mission, which includes enriching the quality of our residents’ lives as they age. We understand the value of using an evidence-based assessment system to assist our residents in living successful healthy lifestyles. We believe the program will help us focus on individual resident needs while providing information that will benefit the community as a whole. Our hope is that residents will be more actively engaged in their own well-being, which will lead to improvements in healthy aging for each individual in our entire community.”
To read the full press release, click here
The Power of COLLAGE for Healthy Aging, COLLAGE Sponsors Event in Naples Florida
July 2011
COLLAGE is sponsoring a special program, “The Power of COLLAGE for Healthy Aging”, at Moorings Park in Naples, Florida. There is no cost to attend this event. Please SAVE Monday, September 19 from noon to 6 p.m. for a special introduction to the COLLAGE assessment system.
Come learn about COLLAGE! Planned presentations include:
- ✓ “We Don’t Need an Assessment System, Our Residents Are Too Healthy!”
- ✓ Applying Data to Improve Healthy Aging: What Are COLLAGE Communities Doing?
- ✓ Developing a Business Process Around an Evidence-based Assessment System? Why Does it Matter?
- ✓ What’s the Business Case for Measuring Outcomes?
- ✓ A COLLAGE Assessment Interview
More information and a registration form is HERE.
Moorings Park, Naples, Florida, Joins COLLAGE Consortium
May 2011
Naples, FL -- Moorings Park, a nationally accredited, not-for-profit community and the only A+ Fitch rated continuing care retirement community in the country, has joined COLLAGE, The Art & Science of Healthy Aging®, a national consortium of aging services organizations using an evidence-based assessment system to track, measure and improve healthy aging outcomes.
"As a community serving older adults, we understand the value and power of using an assessment system to improve successful aging. Moorings Park is extremely pleased to partner with COLLAGE. We believe the program will provide many benefits to our residents and organization as we strive to promote healthy aging through innovative wellness programming," said Steve Brinkert, Vice President of Resident Services, Moorings Park.
To read the full press release, click here
COLLAGE Participant, Seven Oaks of Florence, Receives National Safety Award
March 2011
Omaha, NE - Seven Oaks of Florence and Creighton University have been awarded the Safe Communities Award for their collaborative efforts to reduce fall risks in older adults, as reported by the Greater Omaha Chapter of the National Safety Council. They will be recognized at a National Safety Council awards luncheon on May 19, 2011, in Omaha.
Seven Oaks of Florence is one of 20 housing programs nationally that was recently selected to participate in a Housing Demonstration Laboratory directed by COLLAGE, The Art & Science of Healthy Aging®, and launched in the winter of 2010. COLLAGE, The Art & Science of Healthy Aging®, based in Kennett Square, PA., gives organizations like Seven Oaks of Florence the tools to partner with older people in their quest to age successfully.
To read the full press release, click here