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An modern partnership between a well being system and native congregations in neighborhoods with excessive want that gives particular person companionship to older adults has discovered important reductions in loneliness and a corresponding discount in emergency division visits.
Social isolation and loneliness are acknowledged as threat components for poor well being outcomes, particularly in older adults, together with elevated charges of continual sickness, psychological well being challenges and untimely mortality. These points are extra prevalent amongst people dwelling in under-resourced communities, the place limitations to transportation, well being care entry and social assist are widespread.
As well as, contributors reported lowered scores on each emotional and social loneliness measures. Sufferers gained entry to calmer settings, the correct specialists and extra constant, supportive relationships with common well being care suppliers.
The Congregational Care Community (CCN), developed at Indiana College (IU) Well being, connects older adults with educated volunteers from native congregations for weekly cellphone conversations or in-person visits over a three-month interval. In a program analysis of the CCN, analysis scientists from IU Well being, IU Faculty of Drugs and Regenstrief Institute measured loneliness earlier than and after participation and well being care utilization within the 90 days earlier than, throughout and after program involvement.
“The CCN was founded to address the problems of social isolation and loneliness that many of our patients face,” mentioned Regenstrief Analysis Scientist Alexia Torke, M.D., M.S., who co-led the research. “The goal was to both reduce the loneliness that patients experience and also to improve their overall health and well-being and access to health care.” Dr. Torke can be a professor at IU Faculty of Drugs and a doctor whose apply addresses many sides of the care of older adults.
“An important effect of the CCN is that we were able to reduce the number of times that patients who participated in the program went to the emergency room and we were able to increase the number of times that our patients went to their outpatient clinics,” mentioned Dr. Torke.
“It is better for patients to seek their care in the outpatient setting, where the environment is calm, where they can see the right specialist and where they have time to talk to their clinicians. An important goal of health care is to encourage people to attend their outpatient visits and then to avoid the emergency room when possible.”
The CCN operates by collaboration between IU Well being workers and companion congregations in Indiana. Every taking part congregation identifies neighborhood volunteers—known as connectors—who obtain coaching and are matched with sufferers primarily based on neighborhood proximity. Connectors present weekly telephone-based companionship for 12 weeks.
Directed by John (Jay) Foster, DMin, BCC, the vice chairman of religious take care of Chaplaincy Providers and Congregational Partnerships at IU Well being, this system contains assist from IU Well being-employed social staff and chaplains who help with referrals and tackle affected person wants that require extra intervention. Dr. Foster notes that for many individuals, religion is a crucial a part of well being, and the CCN program is one means by which individuals who’re lonely or remoted can communicate to problems with that means and goal as they address sickness and hospitalization.
Initially piloted in Indianapolis and Bloomington, Indiana, the CCN has since expanded to 4 metropolitan areas with participation from 39 congregations representing a spread of religion traditions.
“Being open to people of all faiths, belief systems and racial backgrounds was very important,” mentioned Dr. Torke. “Each faith community that partnered with us had to be willing to serve patients from any background. Connectors were trained in the core principles of chaplaincy—caring for individuals without proselytizing and meeting them where they are. That is a vital part of the CCN structure.”
“The Congregational Care Network: Preliminary Data From a Healthcare/Congregational Partnership for At-Risk Older Adults,” is revealed in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Extra info:
John D. Foster et al, The Congregational Care Community: Preliminary Knowledge From a Healthcare/Congregational Partnership for At‐Danger Older Adults, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (2025). DOI: 10.1111/jgs.19493
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Regenstrief Institute
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Well being system partnership could assist lower senior emergency room visits (2025, July 8)
retrieved 8 July 2025
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