Rural Project Examples Addressing Elderly population

StrongPeople™ Program
Updated/reviewed July 2022

Need: Few older adults, particularly women and those in rural areas, participate in healthy living interventions.
Intervention: Health educators lead community-based healthy living classes, which include strength training, aerobic exercise, dietary skill building, and/or civic engagement, depending on the program.
Results: StrongPeople™ programs have been shown to improve weight, diet, physical activity, strength, cardiovascular health profile, physical function, pain, depression, and/or self-confidence in midlife and older adults.

Telepsychology-Service Delivery for Depressed Elderly Veterans
Updated/reviewed December 2021

Need: To provide evidence-based psychotherapy for depression in elderly veterans who are unable to seek mental health treatment due to distance or stigma.
Intervention: Telepsychology-Service Delivery for Depressed Elderly Veterans compared providing behavioral activation therapy via home-based telehealth and the same treatment delivered in a traditional office-based format.
Results: A 2015 study and two 2016 studies show that providing treatment via home-based telehealth to elderly veterans in South Carolina resulted in the same improved health outcomes, quality of life, satisfaction with care, and cost of healthcare compared to those receiving face-to-face treatment.

Fit & Strong!®
Updated/reviewed August 2020

Need: Osteoarthritis is a chronic condition which often causes multiple related disabilities in older adults.
Intervention: An 8-week physical activity, behavior change, and falls prevention program geared to older adults with osteoarthritis.
Results: Participants gained confidence with increased exercise, lessened stiffness, improved joint pain and improved lower extremity strength and mobility.

LIFE - Living well through Intergenerational Fitness and Exercise
Updated/reviewed November 2022

Need: Older adults in rural Iowa have inadequate access to physical activity specialists and/or exercise facilities, which limits their ability to remain sufficiently active.
Intervention: Iowa State University implemented an intergenerational "exergaming" program to encourage fun and safe physical fitness among rural older adults.
Results: Pilot studies showed that older adults demonstrated increases in strength, flexibility, activity levels, and confidence in their ability to be physically active. Younger adults experienced reduced ageism and increased knowledge and expectations of aging.

Care for Our Elders/Wakanki Ewastepikte
Updated/reviewed June 2022

Need: To provide Lakota elders with tools and opportunities for advance care planning.
Intervention: An outreach program in South Dakota helps Lakota elders with advance care planning and wills by providing bilingual brochures and advance directive coaches.
Results: Care for Our Elders saw an increase in the number of Lakota elders understanding the differences between a will and a living will and the need to have end-of-life discussions with family and healthcare providers.

Livingston County Help For Seniors
Updated/reviewed May 2020

Need: Meeting the health needs of geriatric patients in rural Livingston County, New York.
Intervention: The Help for Seniors program was developed and using its 'vodcasts,' local EMTs were trained in geriatric screening methods and health needs treatment.
Results: In addition to developing a successful model for educating EMS personnel, the program screened over 1200 individuals and identified various risks among the geriatric population.

SASH® (Support and Services at Home)
Updated/reviewed March 2023

Need: In Vermont, the growing population of older adults, coupled with a lack of a decentralized, home-based system of care management, poses significant challenges for those who want to remain living independently at home.
Intervention: SASH® (Support and Services at Home), based in affordable housing and their surrounding communities throughout the state, works with community partners to help older adults and people with disabilities receive the care they need so they can continue living safely at home.
Results: Compared to their non-SASH peers, SASH participants have been documented to have better health outcomes, including fewer falls, lower rates of hospitalizations, fewer emergency room visits, and lower Medicare and Medicaid expenditures.

ARcare Aging Well Outreach Network
Updated/reviewed March 2021

Need: To reduce falls and improve chronic care management for adults 50 or older in rural Cross County, Arkansas.
Intervention: The ARcare Aging Well Outreach Network, run by an FQHC, provided services like falls prevention assessments, transportation to appointments, medication management, and senior-specific exercise opportunities.
Results: From May 2015 to April 2018, the network served 639 patients through 1,580 medical encounters.

SD eResidential Facilities Healthcare Services Access Project
Updated/reviewed August 2020

Need: To increase local health services to rural elderly populations in long-term care facilities located in four Midwest states near a tertiary care organization.
Intervention: A non-profit healthcare organization implemented telehealth services to provide acute care evaluations for long-term residents in their home facilities.
Results: The program increased local care as evidenced by improved year-over-year provider-determined available transfer data: 33%, 50%, 63% program years 1 through 3, respectively. From the success of the initial pilot implementation, the program has further matured into a long-term care offering that now reaches many other rural facilities located in 10 states across the nation.

Hospital2Home
Updated/reviewed April 2023

Need: To prevent hospital readmissions and improve the recovery process for older adults in rural southern Ohio.
Intervention: Hospital2Home identifies individuals who have an elevated risk of hospital readmission and provides vouchers for services like personal care and home-delivered meals.
Results: In each of the six years the program has been in operation, over 85% of participants have avoided readmission in the first two months after hospital discharge.

Rural Project Examples: Elderly population