Service Coordination

Other Programs

With nearly 25 years experience working with seniors, Ursuline Senior Services was poised to meet and face the challenges apparent in present-day public housing facilities. The addition of service coordination was a natural extension of the existing array of services provided to the elderly throughout our community.

Ursuline began providing service coordination to the residents of the Bennett Place senior high-rise in Homewood. In addition to information and referral, advocacy, and linking individuals to community resources, the service coordinator at Bennett Place, working with the residents, arranges recreational activities, health supports, and produces a monthly newsletter. Service Coordinators also arrange informational and educational presentations for residents.

SENIOR LIVING ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM

In 2005, Ursuline Senior Services was awarded a 16 month contract through The Pittsburgh Foundation, the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP), and the Allegheny County Area Agency on Aging (ACAAA) to work in collaboration with two other service providers: Primary Care Health Services and the Community Leadership Development Institute, Inc. to bring much-needed coordination of services to where many senior residents live.

This partnership, dubbed the Senior Living Enhancement Program (SLEP), provides for a “service-enhanced housing environment” consisting of on-site weekly social services, and monthly nursing and socialization and recreational activities throughout the HACP system of senior housing facilities. SLEP offers this circle of support to 13 high-rises across the City of Pittsburgh, the goal of which is to empower, educate, and enrich the lives of the residents we serve.

Ursuline’s three service coordinators assigned to this project assist residents with acquiring adaptive equipment, in-home supports, and health and financial benefits. They read and interpret mail, link residents with community resources, and provide long-term support, crisis intervention and advocacy as needed. Ursuline’s consistent weekly presence in the buildings has worked in developing trusting and supportive relationships with both the residents and building managers.

RELOCATION SUPPORT SERVICES

With many of the city and county housing facilities in need of renovations, hundreds of residents will be required to relocate, many more than once, over the next several years. Relocating seniors has been an ongoing concern for decades among the professionals working closely with them. Physiological and psychological decline, along with increased mortality rates, are the key negative outcomes observed for some time. Terms like “transfer trauma,” “relocation stress,” “admission stress,” “relocation shock,” and “transplantation shock” are all used to describe the potential effects of relocation seniors. This stress can be eased by the inclusion of programs to provide supports to residents prior to and throughout the relocation process. With this in mind, Ursuline Senior Services was awarded an additional grant through The Pittsburgh Foundation to provide specialized support to affected senior residents.

Several specialized Ursuline service coordinators will assist impacted residents with applying for available benefits; transferring utilities, accessing services at new locations (such as pharmacies, grocery stores, and senior centers); and coordinating assistance of the actual packing, moving, and unpacking services provided through the housing authority. They will even help relocated residents in maintaining important links to friends, physicians and clergy. Service coordinator support will be provided to every resident through each step of the process to provide a safe, smooth and stress-free transition. After the move, the service coordinators provide follow-up support to residents, to ensure their satisfaction and resolve any issues with their new apartment.

As always, Ursuline Senior Services is prepared and enthusiastically willing to expand its services to meet the ever-changing needs of seniors. The growth of our Service Coordination Program activities is just one example of how we move to fill the needs of those we are here to serve.

For more information on Service Coordination contact us at 412.683.0400 ext. 251 or servicecoordination@ursulineseniors.org