Before I Found PACE: New Video in Series Highlights Family Caregivers

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Sep 11, 2018, 10:43 ET

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its PACE 2.0 project, the National PACE Association (NPA) today released the fifth in a series of "Before I Found PACE" video testimonials to highlight the success of Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE®), which empower individuals to live safely in the community.

The new video features Cassandra Jefferson, who faced increasing challenges trying to maintain her job while providing care for her mother who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. More and more Americans are providing care to family members without access to adequate resources. Over 34 million people now provide informal care to someone over age 50, according to AARP.

"As people live longer, more often than ever family members can find themselves in the role of caregiver," said Peter Fitzgerald, executive vice president of Public Policy and Strategy at NPA and principal investigator of PACE 2.0. "A recent survey of PACE family caregivers illustrates how PACE can reduce their burden and burnout."

NPA worked with Vital Research to conduct the survey, which found that 96.6 percent of caregivers are satisfied with the support they receive through PACE, and 97.5 percent would recommend PACE to someone in a similar situation.

Nearly half (49.6 percent) of family members reported high caregiver burden at the time their loved one enrolled in PACE. After enrollment, more than 58 percent of those who had rated their caregiver burden as moderate to high experienced less burden.

PACE is a Medicare and Medicaid program that helps people meet their health care needs in the home, community and PACE centers instead of going to a nursing home or other care facility. The video testimonials allow the public to understand how the program positively affects individual lives and provides a personal perspective that goes beyond outcomes data or descriptions of how the model works.

The initiative is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation and West Health to develop and promote innovations to the PACE model of care that allows it to serve more people, expand to new communities, and assist new populations.

The PACE model uses an interdisciplinary team approach to provide care to individuals, age 55 and over, who qualify for a nursing home level of care. PACE is a Medicare benefit nationally and a Medicaid benefit in 31 states. It is the most successful model for keeping individuals out of nursing homes and in the community, where they enjoy a higher quality of life, remain connected to the community, and receive care in the most cost-effective way. PACE reduces the costs associated with emergency room visits, unnecessary hospital admissions and long-term nursing home placements. More than 95 percent of PACE enrollees live in the community.¹

The John A. Hartford Foundation, based in New York City, is a private, nonpartisan national philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. A leader in the field of aging and health, the foundation has three areas of emphasis: creating age-friendly health systems, supporting family caregivers, and improving serious illness and end-of-life care. For more information, visit johnahartford.org and follow @johnahartford.

West Health, solely funded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West, includes the nonprofit and nonpartisan Gary and Mary West Health Institute and Gary and Mary West Foundation, in San Diego, and the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center in Washington, DC. These organizations work together toward a shared mission of enabling seniors to age in place successfully with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services that preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life, and independence. For more information, visit westhealth.org and follow @WestHealth.

The National PACE Association works to advance the efforts of PACE programs, which coordinate and provide preventive, primary, acute and long-term care services so older individuals can continue living in the community. The PACE model of care is centered on the belief that it is better for the well-being of seniors with chronic care needs and their families to be served in the community whenever possible. For more information, visit www.NPAonline.org and follow @TweetNPA.

SOURCE National PACE Association