Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106679

Sandra J. Trainor, MS, RN, Community Parish Nursing, Inc., 35 Scotland Road, Reading, MA 01867, 781 942 2022, cpnursing@aol.com

The founder and CEO of Community Parish Nursing, a non-profit, non-denominational, charitable organization, will present a unique nursing model whereby professional nurses, working with a large cadre of community volunteers, provide support for the frail elders in Reading to remain healthy and safe, while having fun and staying connected to the community as they “age in place”. This “Neighbors Caring for Neighbors” model is based on evidenced based principles that have been shown to contribute to the functioning of the frail elder. In this model, nurses, without the benefit of a physician, work with the elder to determine the range of support services that are needed to assist the frail elder remain in their own home. Nurses function as health advisors and spokespersons for the elder with agencies that provide various Government services and as “nurse advocate” with the myriad of physicians that may be treating a subset of the elder's medical needs. Also discussed in the Neighbors Caring for Neighbors model will be the critical role of the “Parish Partner”, a neighbor who agrees to maintain weekly contact with their “community neighbor” and becomes the ‘front line' observer for the professional nurse. Not only has this model been shown to provide better “end of life” experiences, it is a less intensive and costly than other initiatives designed to save taxpayers dollars by keeping the Medicaid population out of nursing homes, where none of us want to go.

Learning Objectives: Learning Objectives

• Learners will be able to state or discuss •
• The desires of the majority of elders with regard to “aging in place’; •
• The role of the professional nurse is advocacy for frail elders to be healthy and safe, while having fun and staying connected to their community as they age in place; •
• The 'Neighbors Caring for Neighbors' model and the empirically based principles upon which it is based. •
• The cost of this program and the role of the Community (Government, Business, and Individuals) in providing the financial support needed to implement this type of program.

Keywords: Advocacy, Elderly

Related Web page: www.winterisland.com/cpn/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.