September is National PACE Month!

Every September, the National PACE Association (NPA) celebrates National PACE month. NPA chose this year’s theme: “PACE: Where You Belong,” with the intent of “highlighting the sense of community and connection that Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) build for their participants and staff.” 

Brio Living Services offers PACE services across lower Michigan. Our PACE locations are designed to help older adults remain independent in their own homes and communities rather than move to a nursing home. PACE participants receive medical and supportive services in our state-of-the-art Day Centers. PACE also offers a variety of services that can be provided in the comfort of the participant’s home. 

When Chris Reed first enrolled at Thome PACE, our Jackson location, he struggled with stability, trust issues, and frequent visits to the hospital, according to Angela Edward, LMSW, social worker at Thome PACE. Today, Chris says signing up for PACE “is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.” 

The PACE interdisciplinary team has done much in Chris’s first months as a participant to help turn his life around, starting with his home. Thome PACE Center Director Robyn Abbey-Hardesty and Social Work Assistant Kristi Benn helped set up trash services for Chris, and PACE aides worked hard to clean his home—something Chris had neglected because of his health. Angela identified a contractor to clean his backyard.  

Chris also now has a stable way to get to and from dialysis, thanks to the PACE transportation department, and the Thome PACE clinical team was able to prevent Chris from being hospitalized in his first month as a participant. When he did require a hospitalization in the following month, Angela helped ease Chris’s mind by taking care of his three beloved dogs, so he could receive the care he needed. “My dogs are my life,” says Chris. 

Angela believes the biggest accomplishment of all is that Chris has learned to trust the PACE team in less than two months of service. “We often meet our participants and see how much they’re struggling,” says Angela. “Chris today is much more stable than he was prior to enrollment. He has voiced so much gratitude and I, too, am so happy we’ve been able to help him!” 

To learn more about Brio Living Services’ five PACE sites across Michigan, visit our website.