Jewish Family Service (JFS) is thrilled to announce the receipt of a grant of $150,000 from the Cambia Health Foundation for a transformative new initiative: Supporting Older Adults and their Caregivers Through Affordable Respite Care.
The grant falls under Cambia Health Foundation’s Healthy and Connected Aging priority area, which focuses on reducing isolation and loneliness among older adults by strengthening social connectivity, care coordination, and behavioral health access, with the overall goal of advancing equity through whole-person health.
The program, which will begin as a pilot project, will contract with home health agencies to provide weekly respite care to older adults in their homes. The purpose of the program is to support older adults to age in place successfully; to relieve stress and emotional burden on family caregivers; and to provide access to affordable, in-home respite care to the many families who cannot otherwise afford this service.
We are also pleased to introduce Brittany Parker, who has been hired as Respite Care Coordinator for the program. In addition to her work providing direct services to older adults as a licensed Certified Nursing Assistant, Brittany has held management and administrative roles in several assisted living and memory care facilities. These complementary skills will equip her well to build strong relationships with both our clients and their families, and the home health agencies JFS will partner with for this important new program.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to Cambia Health Foundation, whose partnership will enable us to make a significant impact on the lives of older adults and their caregivers in Utah. The Foundation has been instrumental in their advocacy and guidance as we worked to design the Respite Care program and articulate its goals. We expect the program to be very successful, and look forward to expanding our support to additional older adults in this crucial capacity after the pilot project is completed.
