TiPD Year 3: Making Change Sustainable

As TiPD enters the third and final year of the grant from the Maine Health Access Foundation, the TiPD Advisory Council met to consider proposals from partners old and new. And as sustainability becomes the watchword for the new year, TiPD has partnered with the Town of Blue Hill to become an AARP Age-Friendly Community. This is not a grant, but a commitment to build infrastructure that will support healthy aging and livable communities for all. We hope to join together with all the towns on the Blue Hill Peninsula, Deer Isle, and Stonington to form one of the few AARP Age-Friendly Regions in the State of Maine.

 

The following partners and programs have been approved for the 2016-17 grant year:

 

Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center

The Beth Wright Center will expand its program to provide free access to support services designed for caregivers throughout the Thriving in Place Downeast area. While the Center currently offers support to caregivers, they will more intentionally formalize the program and provide access to more clients in a broader area. With funding from TiP Downeast, the center can build on the valuable work it already offers by providing one on one support through the use of trained volunteers, build a network of support for caregivers, volunteers, as well as enhance our outreach efforts/advertisement of caregiver services. 

 

Eastern Area Agency on Aging

EAAA (Eastern Area Agency on Aging) will partner with healthcare practices on the Blue Hill Peninsula (including Deer Isle & Stonington areas) that are participating in Healthy Peninsula’s food security screening program, to provide Emergency Food Boxes when consumers are determined to be in urgent need for food relief.   Consumers who receive Emergency Food Boxes will be referred to EAAA’s Nutrition Improvement Program, where a custom care plan is created based on their specific situations.  This includes nutrition risk assessment, custom solution recommendations and assistance with completing and submitting any required applications.  This program addresses longer-term food security issues.  A three-month follow up is a standard component of the program.

 

Friends in Action Volunteer Initiative

Friends in Action, with planning support from Eastern Area Agency on Aging, Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County, and the TiPD Coordinator, will continue to develop the in-home volunteer support project for at-risk clients that began in Year 2.  FIA will continue working with the Volunteer Coordinator, who is in place and has developed some important working relationships in the community.  To date, the volunteer project has built a dedicated team of trained and committed volunteers.  FIA will also work during Year 3 to develop sustainability of the project.

 

Friends in Action – Transportation and Social Support

Friends in Action will start a satellite project on the Blue Hill Peninsula that will include free transportation for the elderly and disabled and a social program for seniors. This project will recruit, train and implement volunteer drivers to better serve seniors and disabled adults on the Peninsula (coordinating with already existing transportation programs). The project will also coordinate a social program (the “Coffee House for Seniors”).  Transportation to the Coffee House will be offered to seniors through the volunteer transportation program.

 

Friendship Cottage

Friendship Cottage will enhance their activities program by offering weekly community outings to participants.  TiPD funds will allow Friendship Cottage to take participants to community events such as the Christmas Parade in Ellsworth, picnics at local parks, shopping trips, outings for ice cream and visits to friends at the local nursing homes. 

 

Friendship Cottage/Community Health and Counseling Services

The Behavioral Health Caregiver Support Group, a partnership between Friendship Cottage and Community Health and Counseling Services, will continue to grow and strengthen during Year 3.  The facilitators will also offer a Grieving on the Installment Plan curricula to group attendees and will modify the GR.I.P. curricula to focus more specifically on behavioral health caregiving.

 

Friendship Cottage/University of Maine Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

The University of Maine, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Friendship Cottage will design and implement a pilot program to offer UMaine’s innovative graduate level Speech Therapy Telepractice services to 2 – 4 participants at Friendship Cottage, which provides day services to adults with physical, mental and/or cognitive challenges while giving support to family members who care for them. Friendship Cottage currently does not have access to speech therapy services to support the day program offerings and telepractice is an efficient, cost effective way of providing speech therapy in this rural state through the use of a secure video conferencing system.

 

Healthy Acadia/MDI Hospital

Healthy Acadia and Mount Desert Island Hospital will partner to offer one six-week “Taking Action for Health” course and one six-week “Taking Action on Pain” course. “Taking Action for Health” and “Taking Action on Pain” are Healthy Acadia’s names for the evidence-based Stanford University Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) and Chronic Pain Self-Management Program (CPSMP).

 

Healthy Acadia

Healthy Acadia will build on Year 1 and Year 2 projects by offering 2 sixteen-session “Tai Chi for Health” courses, as well as three 4-week “10 Tips” nutrition education courses.

 

Healthy Island Project

HIP will continue to develop its Year 2 funded projects:  Move It to Lose It, a six-month, weekly weight loss program with a focus on healthy eating and exercising, and Salt Air Seniors, a group of senior men and women who come together for socializing and activities.

 

Healthy Peninsula

– Grant Oversight, Coordination and Reporting

– Support and Coordination

Advisory Council 

Partner Meetings

Provider Network

Sub-committee meetings

– Community Resource Guide

– Clinics of Expertise

– Learning Community

TiPD Facebook Group

TiPD e-Newsletter

Community Columns

 

Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County

In addition to serving on the Volunteer Project planning committee, HVHC will continue its Year 2 funded project:  focusing on the Blue Hill Peninsula and Deer Isle/Stonington, HVHC will engage in a program of training and education for service providers and volunteers on Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The goals of the program include (a) to offer better-prepared service providers to individuals and families dealing with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia; and (b) to build greater collaboration between partner organizations, which will enhance the participants’ network of services available for supporting those dealing with dementia.

 

Penobscot Bay Press

Penobscot Bay Press will continue its partnership with Thriving In Place Downeast to help the TIP partners build and enhance their communications, both internally and externally. PBP will use the saturation coverage of its news and information products in the coinciding service communities of TIP to advertise and communicate the mission and activities of the TIP partners.

 

Tai Chi Training of Trainers

In collaboration with several other TiP-funded groups in Maine, TiPD has funded scholarships for community members to be trained as Tai Chi instructors.  In exchange for the training, each of the 6 community members funded by TiPD will provide one free class for her community on the Blue Hill Peninsula or Deer Isle/Stonington.