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Good Samaritan Society receives $8.15 million grant
6/23/2010 | < BACK |
The Good Samaritan Society announced today that it has received $8,154,981 in funding over three years from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. The grant – the largest in the Society’s 88-year history – will be used to deliver sensor technology and telehealth services to help rural seniors age in place.
About 1,600 seniors living in 40 communities in five states will be involved in the project, called LivingWell@Home. The states include North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska.
“With the grant from the Helmsley Trust, the Good Samaritan Society continues to shape how senior care should be provided in this country,” says David J. Horazdovsky, president and chief executive officer for the Good Samaritan Society. “Our commitment is to implement new and innovative ways in which seniors can live well at home, and at the same time offer family members peace of mind knowing that their loved one is being cared for.”
Sensor technology involves installing non-invasive, wireless sensors throughout a client’s home that detect movement, monitor sleep quality and collect other information about day-to-day activities. The information is transmitted via a secure Internet site to a registered nurse, who compares the data with a client’s usual patterns of daily living. With telehealth, a client has the ability to measure his or her own vital signs such as blood pressure and heart rate using telehealth technology. The information is then sent electronically to a collection point where it is analyzed by a nurse. With both technologies, a nurse – along with a caregiver – is able to intervene if necessary.
The Good Samaritan Society – the nation’s largest not-for-profit provider of rehabilitation/skilled care and senior housing/services – already offers both sensor technology and telehealth services. The LivingWell@Home project expands these services and provides a way to study and prove the efficacy of both technologies so government entities and private insurance companies will provide reimbursement, Society leaders say.
Charles Hiatt, president of the Good Samaritan Foundation, says the Society and Foundation are grateful for the opportunity to work with The Helmsley Charitable Trust in developing the project. “Our dream is that this research project will empower seniors in rural as well as urban areas to have greater access to sensor technology, which allows their continued living well at home.”
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust provides funding for innovative projects that use information technologies to connect rural patients to specialty medical care, provides the latest medical therapies and facilitates programs for underserved populations that places particular stress on existing health care facilities and local governments. The funding is part of The Helmsley Rural Health Program, which over the last two years awarded a total of more than $65 million in grants to institutions and organizations in the upper Midwest.
About The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Trust: The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Trust, established in 1999, is administered by five trustees selected by Leona Helmsley as a continuation of Mr. and Mrs. Helmsley’s generous giving through their lifetimes. The Trust supports a diverse range of organizations with a major focus on health and medical research, in addition to programs in human services, education and conservation. The Trust aspires to improve lives by supporting effective nonprofits.
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