Churches as Geriatric Health Clinics for Community Based Elderly

In most communities there are significant numbers of elderly, especially females who are frail, widowed and live alone. They generally make insufficient use of traditional health care services oftentimes because of location outside of immediate neighborhoods, high costs and perceived disinterest of many providers to their unique needs. Many current models for delivering health care do not consider the multi-functional needs of this population. A model is presented in which several geriatric health clinics are housed in neighborhood churches and use Geriatric Nurse Practitioners as the primary care providers. Care is directed toward management of chronic illness and maximizing the capacity of the elderly to function independently in the community. Volunteers from the parishes and community are trained to provide staff support for the clinic operations and to perform the follow-up activities on personal care aspects of the frail and vulnerable elderly. Local parishes serve as satellites and are linked to a ...