TiPD Year 1 Summary
TiPD was a 4-year project (1 year of planning and 3 years of implementation) funded by the Maine Health Access Foundation. Although the grant ended in 2017, its framework of collaboration and community-based planning to support communities where people can remain healthy and engaged as they age has been the foundation of our healthy aging work since that time.
Thriving in Place Downeast is a Maine Health Access Foundation grant-funded collaboration of Healthy Peninsula and committed community partners working together to implement creative solutions for coordinated care and support by linking community members to health care that promotes prevention and wellness.
TiPD partners: At Home Downeast, Friendship Cottage, Atlantic Mental Health, Coastal Care Team, Eastern Area Agency on Aging, Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County, Hancock County Homecare and Hospice, Blue Hill Memorial Hospital, Healthy Acadia and Penobscot Bay Press. Healthy Peninsula has been a local, non-profit, community public health organization since 2001 that serves the 9 towns on the Blue Hill Peninsula, Stonington and Deer Isle.
Those who are benefiting from TiPD initiatives:
— People with chronic conditions
— Caregivers
— Elderly residents, and the medically uninsured or underinsured
What we found in the local research during the planning phase:
— The importance of connection among providers, family and friends and community resources.
— There is a lack of knowledge and access to health and community resources.
— There are challenges managing services and systems of care.
— There is a priority of really just meeting basic needs.
— There was a sense that “there is no community anymore” folks feel isolated/displaced.
Solutions for THRIVING IN PLACE at work in year ONE (Nov 2014-October 2015):
— Creating caregiver support groups and specific trainings around grief and Behavioral Health caregiving.
— Training “navigators and advocates” to help community members navigate resources. Improving the ‘warm-handoff” from medical to the community.
— Clinics of expertise to teach anyone interested in topics of interest/resources to help folks stay at home longer and more safely.
— Convening a Provider Network for professionals and volunteers to share ideas, concerns, get updated information and find new ways to work together.
— Developing an online resource website for community members, medical staff
— Tai Chi, Matter of Balance and Cooking Matters classes.
— Monthly educational articles of interest, newspaper stories, and other learning opportunities for TiPD partners to increase awareness of issues.
Working together allows for joint planning, sharing of information, collaborative networking, and increased referrals across agencies resulting in better care, improved health outcomes and sustainable programs for the community and its most vulnerable members.