Project Title
Jewish Family Service of New Mexico's Aging In Place Project
Community
The Jewish Family Service of New Mexico's Aging In Place Project was conducted in four areas of New Mexico – urban (Albuquerque in Bernalillo County), suburban (Rio Rancho in Sandoval County), frontier (Fort Sumner in DeBaca County), and a Native American community (Zuni Pueblo in McKinley County). Specific sites ranged from single apartment buildings to entire communities.
Goals
The goal of the Jewish Family Service of New Mexico's Aging in Place Project was to develop and implement a culturally diverse, innovative, and cost-effective program to deliver and coordinate community-based health and social services for older adults. Specific objectives included:
- developing and maintaining collaborative partnerships with housing facilities, for and not-for-profit organizations, and local, state, and tribal government agencies;
- developing Partners Advisory Groups (PAGs);
- empowering participants to engage in volunteerism;
- expanding the project to include HUD-based housing and a Native American pueblo;
- dxpanding wellness interventions that support aging in place;
- providing transportation; and
- promoting ADRC (Aging & Disability Resource Centers) resources and increasing access to programs for participants and their caregivers.
Selected Accomplishments
Specific accomplishments of the Jewish Family Service of New Mexico's Aging in Place Project include:
- Providing a broad range of programs to older adults living in low to moderate income housing, including: Case management; evidence-based programming (such as Enhance Fitness and the Chronic Disease Self Management Program); transportation; home repairs; trips; exercise classes; medication management; housekeeping, horticultural therapy and gardening; errand running services; and volunteer, socialization, and intergenerational learning opportunities.
- Developing a wheelchair accessible community garden in Fort Sumner, a frontier community 160 miles from Albuquerque.
- Partnering with the Senior Center in the Zuni Pueblo, located 170 miles from Albuquerque, to enhance services available to older adults in the community, which has the highest population of community dwelling Native American elders of the 19 pueblos in New Mexico.
Additional Products
- Flier from Senior Awareness Day in the Zuni Pueblo (May 26, 2011), sponsored by the Zuni Senior Center
- JFS Programming at Shalom House , one of the JFS CIAIP sites in the city of Albuquerque
- Newspaper article about the wheelchair accessible garden in Fort Sumner
- CDC Prevention Research Centers Program Overview Video (the exercise classes shown are from Albuquerque sites)
Other
JFS’s collaboration with the Zuni pueblo led to the recognition of Zuni’s Elderly Programs as an “exemplary Title IV Program for outstanding and innovative service for their elders” by The U.S. Administration on Aging’s Office for American Indian, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian Programs (2011) and the Grantmakers in Aging (GIA) Diversity Award presented to JFS 2012 for their work with the Zuni Pueblo.
Contact
Carrie Hamilton
Carrie0613@live.com
505-263-5979
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Click here for a detailed case study of the CIAIP Jewish Family Service of New Mexico's Aging In Place Project project, including accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned.
