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Background: Older adults prefer to maintain an independent lifestyle even though there are physical, psychological, and social factors that sometimes affect their ability to maintain this style of living. Support and Timely Attention for You (STAY) is an aging in place program that helps older adults remain independent and delays their movement to higher levels of care such as those offered in assisted living or skilled nursing facilities. To determine whether STAY increased the number of days in independent living and decreased the number of hospital admissions, an outcomes evaluation was conducted. Methods: Independent living residents were divided into two groups, those receiving STAY services, (STAY), and those not receiving STAY services (nSTAY). The number of falls, hospital admissions, number of days in independent living, and scores from the Senior LIFEsteps assessment were analyzed before and after the program began. Results: A number of findings suggested STAY was having a positive impact. For example, return to independent living (IL) following a hospital admission increased. Nearly 70% of hospital admissions in 2010 involved a STAY resident, and of these, 72.7% of the residents were able to return to IL. The percentage of STAY residents admitted to the hospital decreased from 44.7 % in 2009 to 33% in 2010. Interpretation of the Senior LIFEsteps data indicates the health status of STAY residents did not decline over the years. The majority of falls and illnesses involved STAY residents. Conclusions: The STAY program provides a high quality of care to the residents. Due to the difficulties in obtaining a control group, it was impossible to determine whether the STAY program increases the number of days in independent living. However, there appears to be a number of positive findings relative to program impact. A stronger design would be needed to demonstrate these outcomes are due to STAY. Public Health Significance: The STAY program provides a unique way for older adults to maximize their quality of life as they age in place. This type of program has the potential to decrease healthcare cost by reducing hospital admissions caused by medication non-adherence, falls, and illnesses. |
