Connect4Life Leads to Better Outcomes for Residents

Integrated Care in Seniors Housing that Meets the Triple Aim from Cindy Longfellow

Data shows Connect4Life’s high-tech/high-touch integrated services lead to higher quality care and better outcomes for residents

Executive Summary: Integrated Care in Seniors Housing that Meets
the Triple Aim

By Anne Tumlinson, MMHS and Lynne Katzmann, PhD

According to the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, more than 190 million Americans, or about 59 percent of the population, are affected by one or more chronic illnesses. Over the next 15 years (between 2016 and 2030,) 80 percent of the United States population will experience one or more chronic conditions, costing more than $42 trillion in medical care spending and losses in employment productivity.

To address these challenges and enhance the resident experience, Juniper Communities, a Bloomfield, NJ-based national owner-operator of seniors housing, developed the Connect4Life model, which provides on-site comprehensive therapy, primary care, pharmacy and lab services, integrated with other services using a “high-tech/high-touch” communications protocol that transfers information through an Electronic Health Record (EHR) and coordinates care through a human navigator.

Juniper Communities retained Anne Tumlinson Innovations (ATI) to compare Connect4Life outcomes and utilization data with data on the broader Medicare population from the 2012 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). The findings suggest that the Connect4Life model contributes to lower hospital readmissions and the utilization of inpatient services among a high-need resident population. The results affirm the potential of integrating select clinical care and services in a seniors housing environment that provides supportive services to those who have chronic conditions, functional limitations, and complex social needs.

The results suggest an integrated program of services in seniors housing—like Juniper’s Connect4Life —can contribute to reducing the cost of care and services to Medicare beneficiaries residing in seniors housing. More importantly, the data points to the value of the Connect4Life model for managing population health because of its ability to efficiently target integrated care interventions in the high cost, high-need Medicare population.

Juniper Communities has been a thought leader in senior living care, developing nearly a dozen innovative service and delivery programs to enhance aging, lifestyle and resident health. Recognizing opportunities in to meet the triple aim of recent health policy changes in the United States – improved customer satisfaction, evidence-base quality and lower healthcare utilization, Juniper is pioneering Connect 4 Life – one of senior living’s first truly integrated care models of assisted living care and service.

Read more in the FREE White Paper!

Men's Club

How nice to hear the sounds of men sanding, hammering on wood and nuts and bolts being sorted into  various containers. Meghan Morrisey from Sensory Outings Company brought her bag of tricks to Juniper Village at Aurora for  our men’s pub gathering and they went to town doing what they do best.

What a delight to see them working figuring out which bolt or nut to place into which hole and tighten them down. Tom was given sandpaper to smooth the edges on the baseball bat. Bob was busy calculating his every move with the matchsticks into the proper sized slots of the container he was working with. Marvin was busy making sure all the wing nuts fit the proper screws and enjoyed meticulously figuring them out. While Leon was a natural making the wooden box fit together like a glove ensuring the screws were tightened down just right.

Thank you Meghan for fulfilling the spirit of our men and bringing back those memories for them to enjoy. We can’t wait for you to return again with your bag of tricks and enrich the lives of our men with fond memories of yesterday.

March 2017 Events in Aurora, CO: Your Treasure is Within

Theatrical readings, colorful costumed dancers and spectacular vocal performances bring to a close our creative expression quarterly theme with a focus on performance and honoring our inner treasure – our self-worth. With so many demands on our time these days, it’s easy to always put others first and forget to care of ourselves. Also as we get older, retire from work and in some cases caretaking, we may forget our sense of value – our self-worth. A large part of nurturing the spirit of life is providing opportunities for purpose.

This month we will put an even greater focus on identifying our continued purpose and self-worth by performing purposeful activities, reminiscing and creating opportunities to treasure ourselves. Motivational speaker Anne Naylor offers these tips to help you treasure yourself: Treasure your thoughts with kindness – nurture your thoughts of gratitude and appreciation. Treasure your feelings and emotions – observe and use them as your guide. Treasure your body – treat it well with exercise, nourishment, rest, joy and laughter. Treasure your spirit – breathe, meditate and enjoy the goodness in your life. We hope you all enjoy the treasure of your wonderful self.

Please join us as we dramatically embrace performance throughout March with our weekly drama club, outings to live theatrical performances and our Oscar-themed party. Celebrate the Irish culture in grand style with our Saint Patrick’s Day event filled with food, fun and, of course, dancing! Honor yourself and recognize Your Treasure is Within this month at Juniper Village!

Our fabulous March 2017 events in Aurora, CO at Juniper Village at Aurora include our:

§  Your Treasure is Within because you are our treasures, we invite you to visit our treasure chest all through the month of March and select a special prize – including tickets to local professional performances all month long.

§  Dine and Dash to celebrate the First Day of Spring by Springing in for our Chinese Take Out Lunch on March 20^th from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm.

§  Daffodil Dash because daffodils symbolize rebirth and new beginnings, a sign of winters end, and a lucky emblem of future prosperity, stop by and pick up a treasure cup of daffodils on March 30^th from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

We look forward to sharing our March 2017 events in Aurora, CO at Juniper Village at Aurora with you as Your Treasure is Within.

February 2017 Events in Aurora, CO: Awaken Your Passion

This month, our focus on creative expression continues with a focus on art. Art, as with beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. It is understandable that some have great artistic ability and others do not. But, at Juniper we know that everyone has a passion for creative expression, regardless of ability or age. Pablo Picasso once said, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” He is speaking about becoming inhibited as adults. With our various art programs we encourage uninhibited creativity as a form of therapy. Creating art affords the opportunity of self-exploration and self-expression leading to both physical and mental benefits. Creating art in any of its various forms, is also about sharing a bit of ourselves with each other. Art is one way to express ourselves, and the creations are honest and true representations of our experiences. In sharing our stories through art with others we invite communication and create lasting bonds.

Art typically encompasses painting, sculpting, and drawing. But, the act of creating art can be as simple as doodling. Art is simply the creation of something outside one’s self that often mirrors what is going on within their mind, soul, and body. We use creative arts as a way to nurture the spirit of life. Join us throughout February as we focus on great varieties of art such as photography, needlework, handicrafts, painting, sculpture and more. Please join us as we share a bit of ourselves with our weekly craft classes, experience art on an outing to an art museum, and embrace our celebratory spirit with Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s Day parties. We look forward to helping you Awaken Your Passion this month!

Our fabulous February 2017 events in Aurora, CO at Juniper Village at Aurora include our:

§  Balloon Bouquets our annual, much anticipated fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Association; order your balloon bouquets anytime in advance and bring a smile to your special sweetheart’s face on Valentine’s Day.

§  Artfully Yours Art Show beautiful Juniper is very proud of our local resident artists; we will be celebrating them with a Wine and Tapas Art Show, so join us and enter to win 2 tickets to Shen Yun, Sunday March 5, 2017 at the Buell Theater on February 22^nd at 5:30 pm.

We look forward to sharing our February 2017 events in Aurora, CO at Juniper Village at Aurora with you as you Awaken Your Passion.

Tristan Appreciation

The following is a letter from Tristan who was one of 5 students with Crossroads Public School in Aurora who volunteered every Thursday by taking out the trash, vacuuming and speaking with our residents on a 1:1 basis. He seemed to have that special touch with our residents and they adored him too.

Dear Juniper, I think that all of our new students should volunteer at Juniper, because they will get to learn how to interact with residents over at Juniper. I have volunteered at Juniper for the Past 2 years at Crossroads.

This is what I have learned at Juniper: I learned how to interact with new people in a nice manner. This is why I think our new Students that are going to come here next year should volunteer at Juniper because it is a very nice environment to be at. All of the staff members are very nice to you and all of the residents are very sweet and kind to you. I love Juniper because they are really sweet to me, staff and residents. I hope that the people that volunteer there are happy with their job site like I was for the past two years here at Crossroads. You will make a lot of new friends here and at your worksite.

I got to clean the houses at Juniper I got to talk to the residents and have a lot of fun with all of the staff there. I really love working there because the people are really heartwarming. They are very sweet and loving to all the people around you I am going to miss everyone at Juniper. I hope I get to come and see all of you guys again at some point. I am wondering if you guys will let me do in internship over at Juniper. I am really sad that I have to leave school and I really was hoping that I could get a job at Juniper someday. 

My advice for the new volunteers is that they show a lot of respect to the staff there that were nice to me.

Love,

Tristan

January 2017 Events in Aurora, CO: Welcome New Beginnings

Welcome to 2017! What a wonderful time for us to reflect on the past year and forge ahead with new beginnings. January is a time to begin again; a time when we make (and sometimes break) our New Year’s resolutions and focus on how we want to improve in the coming year.

January is also the month that Juniper Village begins our Winter Alive In All Seasons theme of Creative Expressions: “Explore Your Creativity” where in January we will focus on music! Do you know that research shows that music can help us physically by easing pain, helping us sleep better, eat less and enhance our blood vessel function? It is also suggested that music can help us mentally by reducing stress, relieving symptoms of depression, elevating mood, decreasing anxiety and improving cognitive performance. Because of this, Juniper Communities has adopted the Music & Memory program.

Through the use of MP3 players and headphones our teams download personalized music for each resident. These musical favorites tap deep memories and can bring participants back to life, enabling them to feel like themselves again, to converse, socialize and stay present. Learn more about our Music & Memory program by talking with our Connections Director and consider making a donation to this worthwhile program. We accept donations of new or used iPods, new over the ear headphones and iTunes gift cards.

Join us this month as we explore our creativity through music with outings to local musical performances, Elvis’ birthday celebrations and concerts by our Joyful Noise Choirs. We invite you to Welcome New Beginnings at Juniper Village and make a resolution to join us for activities and events throughout the year!

Our fabulous January 2017 events in Aurora, CO at Juniper Village at Aurora include our:

§  Celebrate Elvis with Shelvis because the “King of Rock and Roll”, Elvis is remembered here, so come have a rocking good time with Shelvis and her band on January 8^th at 6:30 pm.

§  New Year New You as we would like to say Thank You for your partnership, and to show our gratitude we are offering Free 15 minute Massages with Tours on January 26^th from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

We look forward to sharing our January 2017 events in Aurora, CO at Juniper Village at Aurora with you as you Welcome New Beginnings.

Woody, Resident Dog

Pup-a-roni, belly rubs, doggie treats galore, these are a few of my favorite things.  Woody was dog tired yesterday watching the elves at work creating Christmas tree ornaments and anticipating a fruit cake crumb landing close to his feet. Oh, the smells and celebrations of the Christmas season close at hand tuckered out our resident dog until the next resident comes along scratching Woody behind his ears and rubbing his tummy with lots of love. I wonder what Santa will bring him.  Have you been a good doggie this year?

May we celebrate the little things in life that make the journey memorable for those we touch. Merry Christmas to all our dog lovers and sweet doggie treats dreams.