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The Healthcare & Aging Award is no longer an active award program, and information is presented here for historical reference only.
Healthcare and Aging Awards: "Recognizing Innovation and Quality"
For outstanding programs and services. Sponsored by Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative.
PURPOSE
The Healthcare and Aging Network (HAN) of the American Society on Aging (ASA), in collaboration with Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative, is pleased to announce its ninth annual Healthcare and Aging Awards recognizing outstanding programs and services in healthcare and aging.
This year the awards will be given to organizations that have demonstrated high-quality, innovative programs that enhance the health-related quality of life in older adults. Although the risk of disease and disability clearly increases with advancing age, poor health is not an inevitable consequence of aging. Proven effective strategies to prevent chronic disease, disability and functional decline exist, but they have not been widely used. These include models that integrate care and take a holistic approach to the health of the older person. ASA and Pfizer will recognize outstanding intervention programs developed in recent years to improve the health and healthcare of the aging. Model programs can include, but are not limited to:
- Wellness/health promotion programs
- Community-based care
- Dementia care
- Mental health/behavioral healthcare
- Caregiver supports
- Medication management
- Chronic illness care
- End-of-life care
- Programs that expand access to underserved groups of older adults.
WINNING PROGRAMS
Winning programs will be presented at the 2008 Aging in America Conference , to be held in Washington D.C. on March 27-30, 2008. Up to six programs will receive:
- A cash award of $2,500
- One-night's lodging for one person at the conference
- A complimentary conference registraiton
- A one-year complimentary membership to ASA and the Healthcare and Aging Network.
In addition, winners may use the statement Recognized for Innovation and Quality in Healthcare and Aging, 2008, American Society on Aging in conjunction with the winning program or service. Descriptions of the winning programs will be featured on the ASA website and become part of a publication distributed to members of ASA's Healthcare and Aging Network and other interested parties.
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PAST WINNERS
- Past winners have included: Caregiver Respite Cooperative, Asian Community Center of Sacramento Valley, Inc; Michigan’s Coordinated Access to Food for the Elderly, Elder Law of Michigan, Inc; Geriatric Addictions Program (GAP), Lifespan of Greater Rochester, Inc.; A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls, Maine Health/Partnership for Healthy Aging; Indian Council of the Elderly/ Indian Health Center, Milwaukee County Department on Aging; Family Caregiver Program, Home Care Services, Tanana Chiefs Conference; Integrated Support Service Model, Committee to End Elder Homelessness, Inc.; Aging as Ourselves, ElderHelp of San Diego, San Diego, CA; Cool Zones, Country of San Diego Aging and Independence Services, San Diego, CA; PREPARE: Disaster/Emergency Training Program for Long Term Care Providers, Mather LifeWays, Evanston, IL; Silver Age Yoga, Silver Age Yoga Community Outreach, San Diego, CA; Transitions, Haven Hospice, Gainesville, FL ; The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention, The Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale, Riverdale, NY
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ELIGIBILITY
- Applicant programs must be providing healthcare or health-promotion services to older adults. Healthcare organizations, homecare and community-based service providers, long-term care organizations, aging-network agencies and others that meet this qualification are invited to apply.
- Competitive applications will clearly describe innovative features of the program and demonstrate their impact on the community, older adults or their organization and their ability to be replicated by other organizations.
- The program must have at least one year's worth of program results and cannot have been in existence longer than five years (or must represent a substantially new program model in the past five years) by the date of submission.
- Organizations that have won this award within the past two years are not eligible to apply.
- Applicants must be members of the American Society on Aging. If you are not currently a member of ASA, you may joinwhen you submit your proposal online.
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CRITERIA FOR JUDGING
The criteria upon which applications will be evaluated parallel the required elements of the program narrative. Address each criterion fully.
The criteria and the scoring system are:
- Innovation (25 points)
- Impact on older adults, the community and/or the organization (25 points)
- Potential for replication (20 points)
- Attention to and success in involving diverse populations of elders in services provided (15 points) — Examples of diversity are ethnicity, culture, language, religion, sexual orientation, geography, income and disability.
- Collaboration (15 points) — This may be with other organizations, divisions within a larger organization or with consumer or community groups.
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SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Make sure your narrative addresses all of the specified criteria and in the sequence requested. Use bulleted, bolded titles or subheads designating each of the submission requirements. Address every one of the criteria. Wherever you can, use specific details and quantitative data to support your statements about the program. For example, tell us how many people of which ethnicities you serve, and how you measured the impact of the program. Make sure the readers understand the impact of the program on the population served. Programs with broad impact will be viewed especially positively.
- Cover Sheet
You will complete an online form with the following information: name and address of your organization, name, phone number and e-mail address of the key contact person, name of the program being submitted, number of people being served, percent of those over age 60, how long the program has been in existence, whether the program has developed materials useful for replication such as manuals, videos, PowerPoint presentations, etc.
- Abstract
(2-3 sentences) As part of the online form that includes the Cover Sheet, you will provide a brief summary of what you would present in a program exchange session at the conference. Note: A program exchange is an information exhbit, where you can present materials on your program.
- Narrative
Maximum 9 double-spaced pages containing:
Executive Summary
(maximum one double-spaced page) The summary will be used to describe the program in all published material profiling winning programs.
Program Description
(maximum eight double-spaced pages) Describe the program, the need it meets, the population it serves and all services provided. Use case examples of no more than 50 words. In addition, address each of the following criteria to the best of your ability:
- Innovation: Innovation may take the form of an entirely novel approach to a problem or need, or it may be the application of an existing practice to an emerging issue, a new population or a new setting. A model that is widely disseminated and known is not considered innovative even if it is new in your region of the country.
- Impact: Tell us how your program has had an impact on older adults, the community or your agency itself. Has it lowered costs, increased access to services, improved the health of the population or had some other impact? Do you have tools and systems in place to measure the program's impact? Describe them.
- Replication: Has the program been replicated in other areas or settings or are there currently plans to do so? Has your program expanded or do you plan to do so? If so, describe these replication or expansion activities. Describe any tools you have created to help others replicate this or a similar program. Are tools ready to be disseminated? What would it take for someone else to replicate the program?
- Diversity: Discuss the extent to which the program addresses the needs of diverse populations of elders. Explain how you define diversity for your program. This can include ethnic or cultural diversity, diversity of sexual orientation, religion, language, income levels, degrees of and types of disability, rural versus urban elders.
- Collaborations: If the program involves partnerships with other organizations, with various divisions within a larger organization, or with community groups, describe the groups and explain their roles. If older adult consumers were involved in the design and implementation of the program, describe their role.
- Lessons Learned: Summarize for others who may wish to replicate your program, the lessons you learned in developing this program and advice you would give to others. Describe any barriers encountered in developing and implementing the program or service and the strategies used to surmount these obstacles.
- Description of Applicant Organization
(maximum one double-spaced page) Describe the applicant organization, its mission, population served, whether it is for-profit or nonprofit, and any other useful information. Explain how the organization and program gets its funding.
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