The Mayer-Rothschild Foundation awards Center on Aging, The Cedars funding to seek best practices for person-centered care

The Mayer-Rothschild Foundation has awarded funding to the University of Maine Center on Aging and The Cedars, a nonprofit retirement community in South Portland, to identify and promote the best practices for person-centered care in nursing homes, independent and assisted living facilities and dementia and memory care residences. 

The foundation’s first Designation of Excellence in Person-Centered Long-Term Care Award allows both organizations to develop a national standard for person-centered care and optimal strategies for facilities to implement it. The designation of excellence they create will serve as a promotional tool for institutions that adopt best practices for this model of care. 

Person-centered care promotes policies that allow residents of long-term care facilities to advocate for services that best meet their individual needs and preferences. While a shift toward person-centered care has taken place over the last few decades in long-term care, there is no definition or standard guidelines for person-centered care. This award seeks to move care from a model that is medically or task-driven, to care that is driven largely by resident preferences, which are often not considered. 

“Our team is excited to undertake this much-needed research,” says Lenard Kaye, director at the University of Maine Center on Aging. “We know the provision of person-centered long-term care has yet to incorporate a common set of widely accepted operating principles. Our efforts will be dedicated to arriving at a universal model of care that can be implemented nationally in a diverse network of nursing homes and assisted living communities.”

Read the full release on The Mayer-Rothschild Foundation website

Contact: Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu