Retirement Community Health Program Featured at Conference

The Village Retirement Community, a not-for-profit community owned by Gainesville-based SantaFe Senior Living, has received recognition from state leaders for its 22-month-old Vitality Program, through which third-party health care providers offer free on-site access to medical services to residents.

Village Executive Director Jim Antonucci, who initiated the program, was invited to speak to industry leaders about the program on July 14 at the LeadingAge Conference in Orlando.

“It was excellent,” he said. At the event, Antonucci shared the program’s progress and showed numbers about improvements in quality of life and an increased in rented units. He said that the program has greatly reduced the amount of emergency room visits that the residents need.

“It’s no secret that healthcare systems can be complex, especially for seniors, and we don’t want to see anyone get bounced around or lost in the system,” Antonucci said. “We found a solution by creating a program where seniors can get proactive health services all in one place.”

Vitality Program services include emergency and check-in systems, a Respite Room for short-term recovery, primary care physicians in geriatrics, physical and occupational therapy, private duty personal and companion care, and Medicare-certified home health care.

Third-party providers include Senior Healthcare Centers, the Movement and Balance Center, Comfort Keepers personal care service and Haven Hospice.

According to The Village, 95 percent of its residents signed up immediately, and the move-in rate has doubled since the program started. The community is currently at 89 percent capacity— up from 62 percent since its start—out of 639 units. The Village features 511 independent-living units, 96 assisted-living units and 32 dementia-care units.

“We’ve seen measurable improvements in residents’ health across the board,” said Rebecca Catalanatto, director of health services at The Village. “We completed a comprehensive assessment on nearly all of our 700 residents, and developed a Vitality scoring system to accurately track and measure health changes. We use the data gathered to continually evolve our health and wellness programming in order to meet the needs of our resident population.”

 

The Village is located on 104 acres at 8000 N.W. 27th Blvd. For more information, visit www.thevillageonline.com or call (800) 653-2104.

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