Redwood Coast Pace will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in September. And to mark this milestone for the program, they’ll be celebrating with two open house events on September 4th here in Eureka. And on September 11th in Fortuna. Barbara Lahaie is the executive director of Redwood Coast Pace, a program of the Humboldt Senior Resource Center.Thanks for inviting us here today.
“The PACE program is a comprehensive health care plan, where we support older adults remaining in their homes and in our community.We have a primary care clinic which provides all the primary care medical needs, as well as coordinates all the specialty medical care services that a participant would need.In addition, we have a beautiful day center here where participants can come to do activities, share a meal, go on field trips.And then we just have the coordination of all of that where we can provide transportation. We provide meals in the home, as well as providing in-home care.Participants need to be, 55 and older. Need to have a chronic condition that impacts their daily activities. They need to live in our service area. And they need to be able to be in their homes safely,” says Barbaha Lahaie.
Melissa Hooven is the CEO of Humboldt Senior Resouce Center. So what are some of the milestones achieved by Redwood Coast Pace in its first decade?
“Well, there are a few. I think the most important to note is that we were the first and are still the only actual rural pace program in the state of California.So really, that’s an incredible accomplishment for us in the world of Pace programs. And also to date, we have 318 participants. So in the beginning, the early performances or the studies about the feasibility of pace here in the community was that we would cap and we would max out probably 150 participants. So here we are ten years later, and we continue to kind of break that proverbial glass ceiling.And we continue to expand and increase our footprint. And we’re really excited about our successes and the opportunities to serve our community and the people who need us most,” she says.
Doctor Jennifer Heidemann is the medical director for Redwood Coast Pace. Doctor Heidmann, how has Redwood Coast Pace Impacted the delivery of health care to older adults in our community?
“Rural, older adults can really struggle to find access to the kind of care they need and the support they need to stay in their home setting, and that’s really our mission.We really look at people as people that have goals, and we want to know what matters most to them. And for many of them, it’s been as independent and healthy as possible for as long as possible in their home setting. And so I think our biggest impact has been, developing a way to do that, that really empowers people to be kind of the best, have the best quality of life they can and be as healthy as possible,” sayd Doctor Jennifer Heidmann.
Barbara, your 10th anniversary is coming up for the Pace program.How is HSRC and Redwood Coast Pace going to celebrate this event?
“Yes. The community is invited to join us for a celebratory Open houses in Eureka on September 4th and Fortuna on September 11th. Both events are from 4: 30 to 7. We’ll have tours of our center’s light snacks, raffle prizes and more,” says Lahaie.
