By Geralyn Magan
LeadingAge is honoring two Kavod Senior Life team members who spearheaded efforts to reduce social isolation among older Denver residents with low incomes.
Michael Klein and Gabriel Sanders will receive the 2019 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Award for Health Equity, presented by LeadingAge at the 2019 LeadingAge Annual Meeting & EXPO in San Diego, CA.
Klein is president and CEO of Kavod Senior Life, a LeadingAge member and affordable senior housing community in Denver, CO. Sanders is Kavod’s community outreach coordinator. The 2 are being honored for their efforts to change systems and policies at the local level to ensure everyone has a fair and just opportunity to live the healthiest life possible.
ABOUT KAVOD SENIOR LIFE
Kavod Senior Life is home to 400 older adults, the majority of whom qualify for lower-income rents subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The organization was established in 1971 with a mission to provide life-enrichment programming to older adults through a broad range of housing and support services that reflect the spiritual, cultural, and social values of Jewish tradition.
Klein began his tenure at Kavod Senior Life in 2010 with the goal of ensuring that older adults living on campus “were well outfitted with robust wraparound services,” according to Christie Ziegler, Kavod Senior Life’s director of communications and marketing.
Today, those services include a suite of 18 interconnected offerings, featuring an on-site Health and Wellness Center with 20 contracted health providers, 4 on-site social workers, a computer bank, adaptive technology units, a dining program, and a variety of social engagement programs.
KAVOD IN COMMUNITY
The RWJF Award for Health Equity acknowledges the efforts of Klein and Sanders to bring Kavod Senior Life’s social engagement programming into the neighborhoods surrounding the housing community.
The Kavod in Community initiative is designed to address social isolation, which can lead to early-onset dementia, higher instances of sickness, and even higher health care expenses. It accomplishes that goal through 2 programs:
- Kavod on the Road offers social engagement programming at the sites of community-based program partners.
- Kavod in the City offers programming in 3 housing communities managed by the Denver Housing Authority (DHA).
“Both of these cohesive streams of programming have been changing the way the Denver community approaches the issue of social isolation in seniors, both through a collaborative framework as well as through a new stream of programming that is part of the offerings within city-wide, low-income housing,” wrote Ziegler, who nominated Klein and Sanders for the RWJF Award for Health Equity.
KAVOD ON THE ROAD
Kavod on the Road, established in 2014, offers community-dwelling older adults monthly activities, lectures, and trips in collaboration with 22 partner organizations. The program, which also features a free annual conference and a community activity guide for elders, has changed the way agencies prioritize senior programming and work together to provide it, says Ziegler.
“Rather than each organization hosting its own activities, the larger community now works together as part of the Kavod on the Road collaborative,” she wrote. “Activities are put on collaboratively and cross-promoted, thus creating a ‘web’ of mutual support that has not existed before. Should any partner have to bow out, the system would continue as the other partners would carry on and new partners brought into the group.”
The success of Kavod on the Road is being measured by tracking participant attendance, which has increased by 10% each year across 95 individual programs. The program has been partially replicated by 2Life Communities, a LeadingAge member in Boston, MA, and La Vida Llena Retirement Community, a LeadingAge member in Albuquerque, NM.
KAVOD IN THE CITY
Kavod in the City, established in 2017, brings monthly social engagement programs to 3 senior housing communities managed by the Denver Housing Authority (DHA). Overall, 150 residents have participated in the program over the past 2 years.
Sanders inspired a system-wide change within DHA by working with the housing authority to intertwine Kavod in the City’s programming into existing DHA programming. He solicited the help of service coordinators at each site to deliver Kavod in the City; trained them on how to implement the program; and provided resources, contacts, program outlines, and support.
“In essence, the system at DHA will now include these social engagement programs for residents at each site as part of their lease,” wrote Ziegler. “This will ensure low-income seniors have the same access to quality socio-emotional programs as everyone else in the greater community.”
An external evaluation of Kavod in the City showed positive results for attendance and program satisfaction. Almost all (98%) participants responding to post-program surveys said they were “highly satisfied.” A year-end survey found statistically significant levels of reduced anxiety and depression after ongoing participation in Kavod in the City.