Better Living at Home

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2010

Better Living at Home is an innovative and cost-effective approach to serving vulnerable adults that wish to remain in the community through the provision of assistive technologies and environmental interventions. This program, serving primarily older adults who desire to “age in place” in the community, utilizes occupational therapists in collaboration with social workers and community health nurses to design intervention strategies that assist individuals and their families to become self-sufficient, rather than becoming dependent on formal and informal caregivers. The program, which costs less than $1,000 per client served, typically involves an initial assessment, with two to four follow-up visits by an occupational therapist. As a collaboration amongst Montgomery County, Howard County and University of Maryland Baltimore County, Better Living at Home has produced preliminary data that indicates that the number of paid personal care hours can be reduced by 48 percent while maintaining the same level of safety and independence. These findings suggest that the intervention can produce cost savings that would allow local agencies to serve a greater number of people in need with expenditures and the same or lower levels than previous years.