Burlington, NC (Dec. 2, 2013) – Piedmont Health SeniorCare, an innovative program for senior that has won praise and growing popularity, will mark its fifth anniversary on Dec. 5 with a celebration to which the community is invited.

The event is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the SeniorCare facility, 1214 Vaughn Road in Burlington. The event is open to participants, caregivers, Piedmont Health staff, board members, and the community at large. It will feature refreshments and entertainment by the Piedmont Health SeniorCare choir. Also, one of the first participants who enrolled when the program started on Dec. 1, 2008 will speak about her experience in PACE during the last five years.

Piedmont Health SeniorCare is nonprofit and a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), a growing model of care as the nation seeks to contain health-care costs while maximizing quality of care. Similar to goals of the Affordable Care Act, PACE assigns accountability to the provider, and offers coordination of care and medical homes to the patient (“participant”).

PACE programs offer comprehensive services designed to allow seniors who might ordinarily move to a nursing facility to remain at home instead. Piedmont Health SeniorCare focuses on maximizing autonomy and quality of life. The program has shown a cost savings to Medicare or Medicaid. The care is coordinated by an interdisciplinary team from 12 disciplines, who together address the individual medical needs of each participant, with an emphasis on wellness and prevention. Program
participants attend the Day Health Center on a regular basis where they receive the majority of services (including recreational activities), but additional services are provided at home or by contracted community providers. The program maintains a low ratio of providers to participants, currently maintaining one physician or nurse practitioner for every 40 participants.

Publications all over the country, including in the New York Times and Washington Post, have written about the growing popularity of PACE programs. North Carolina is the fastest growing state in the number of PACE sites nationally. Piedmont Health SeniorCare has served more than 200 participants since it started. And the program is expanding; Piedmont Health SeniorCare this month is opening a second facility in Pittsboro in Chatham County Whereas Piedmont Health SeniorCare in Burlington was only the second PACE facility in the state when it opened in 2008, there are now eight operational PACE sites in the state, a figure that will double within the next couple years based on current sites under development A goal of the N.C. PACE Association is to eventually have all 100 counties in the state served by a PACE site, a goal that may become a reality in the near future based on current growth.

SeniorCare is not only interested in growing, but also strengthening ties to the community, said Marianne Ratcliffe, director of the Piedmont Health SeniorCare program. Ratcliffe noted that SeniorCare recently started an activity called Walk and Roll that allows SeniorCare participants to raise money for community groups by doing laps inside the facility – whether they walk or roll in a wheelchair.

Through Walk and Roll, SeniorCare participants raised $643.50 in October for the Susan Bynum Fund at the Alamance Regional Medical Center. This local fund focuses on providing services for women who are being treated for or recovering from breast cancer. The check will be delivered at the anniversary celebration on Dec. 5.

The November proceeds will be used to adopt a Christmas Cheer family.

Walk and Roll benefits SeniorCare participants as well as the community, said Cat Ballentine, the occupational therapist at SeniorCare who designed the activity.

“It acts not only as a motivator for some to be more active and promotes overall wellness, but it also gives our participants the opportunity to feel part of a group and allows them to feel, in a way that they may not feel anymore, like they are a contributing member of society,” Ballentine said.

Ratcliffe added that Walk and Roll “epitomizes the PACE model’s mission in maximizing autonomy and one’s quality of life while maintaining safety and a focus on wellness. In many cases, seniors are marginalized and isolated, suffering from depression and loneliness. Through the support of our interdisciplinary team and fellow participants at the Day Health Center, seniors gain a renewed sense of purpose and a commitment to their own well-being and that of our community.

“PACE focuses on taking care of the generation that took care of us, and in its typical fashion, this generation remains committed to giving back,” Ratcliffe added.

Piedmont Health SeniorCare hours are Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. It is located at 1214 Vaughn Road in Burlington. For more information, call (336) 532-0000 or visit: www.piedmonthealthseniorcare.org.