Project Title
Caring Communities Resource Centers (CCRC)
Community
CCRC was designed to serve low-income older adults residing in both urban and rural communities in the Kansas City-St. Joseph area by focusing on six faith-based and community-based senior sites, located in the following diverse low-income neighborhoods:
- Christ the King (in an urban, large NORC neighborhood)
- St. Louis Senior Center (in a low-income, under-resourced urban neighborhood)
- Seton Center (in a low income, under-resourced urban neighborhood)
- The Palmer Center (in an older neighborhood in Independence, MO with a high population of older adults)
- Ray County Senior Center (in a rural community, an hour East of Kansas City)
- Northeast Senior Center (in a largely Latino urban neighborhood with a changing population).
Goals
The goal of CCRC was to enhance older adults’ ability to live independently and increase healthy aging behaviors by accessing health screenings, information/referral and care management services, chronic disease self -management workshops, and mental health services offered at the senior centers. By partnering with community agencies, these services were provided on a rotating basis, and CCRC was able to enhance the centers’ offerings and provide a “one-stop” approach to seniors for accessing services in their local neighborhoods.
Selected Accomplishments
Specific accomplishments of the CCRC project include:
- Facilitating the formation of sustainable, ongoing relationships with multiple agencies to enable consistent provision of needed services (e.g. glaucoma screenings; Medicare enrollment support; exercise; and education on health topics such as cancer, smoking cessation, Alzheimer’s disease, and hospice care);
- Developing unique programs that meet the specific needs of each senior center site;
- Increased health screenings and monitoring of chronic conditions by a nurse;
- Care management to serve clients needing assistance with understanding insurance, transportation, obtaining healthcare and health care supplies, etc.;
- Providing a “Seniors of the Roundtable” mental health support group;
- Implementation of an exercise program that resulted in increased overall attendance at each CCRC site;
- Developing on-site health libraries and communication boards;
- Assembling a Leadership Council that met six times per year to discuss the project and evaluate service;
- Coordinating volunteers to provide services, such as a visiting dentist who provided on-site dental screenings and other volunteers who packed dental supplies to be sent to the homebound;
- Disseminating a quarterly CCRC newsletter to partners, senior center staff and participants, and the homebound.
Additional Products
- Caring Communities Resource Centers (CCRC) brochure
- Presentation on CCRC by Monica Burgin (March 29, 2012)
Other
The CCRC center participants engaged in numerous educational and social activities. Click here to see a collage of photographs that highlight some of the programming that was offered at the various centers.
Contact
Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Inc.
http://www.catholiccharities-kcsj.org/honoring-older-adults-with-care-and-dignity
Monica Burgin
Assistant Director Senior Care Services
mburgin@ccharities.com