Blue Ridge PACE Center in Charlottesville Now Enrolling Participants
Charlottesville, VA (PRWEB) February 12, 2014 -- Virginia’s newest Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) – the Blue Ridge PACE Center – received its government approval to begin enrolling residents into the program and will officially open March 1. The formal approval to commence operations came in January by the Commonwealth of Virginia and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
The Blue Ridge PACE Center – located in Charlottesville at 1335 Carlton Avenue – will offer comprehensive care to approximately 175 older adults, enabling them to remain in their homes and communities.
At the center’s ribbon cutting in November, keynote speaker U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said “the center will help eliminate the lack of continuity that presently exists for older adults and their families where different entities handle healthcare, social services and nutrition.
"The big piece that has been missing so long in our healthcare system is exactly the role that PACE fills,” Warner said. “This is not only the morally right thing to do, but it’s also the financially right thing to do.”
Blue Ridge PACE offers comprehensive recreational therapy, physical, occupational and speech therapy, personal care facilities, library, pharmacy, nutritional services, health center as well as community based services including transportation and home based personal care.
PACE serves those aged 55 and older who meet Virginia’s criteria for nursing home admission. The federally authorized program is funded primarily by Medicare and Medicaid, although those without Medicaid coverage are also eligible.
Riverside Health System is the largest operator of PACE centers in Virginia and Blue Ridge PACE joins five of the nearly 200 centers available across the country in 31 states.
Blue Ridge PACE is a joint venture of Riverside Health System, University of Virginia Health System and the Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA). Blue Ridge PACE serves the city of Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson.
Construction of the Blue Ridge PACE Center generated an estimated $3 million in local construction work. Once it reaches capacity Blue Ridge PACE will employ an estimated 100 staff members.
Learn more about Blue Ridge PACE at http://www.riversideonline.com/blue_ridge_pace/contact-us.cfm or (434) 529-1300.
About the Blue Ridge PACE Partners:
Founded in 1915, Riverside Health System has evolved from a small hospital in Newport News, Virginia, into one of the most progressive and diversified nonprofit healthcare organizations in the nation. A voluntary Board of Trustees governs each major division or facility within this system that now serves over 700,000 individuals across southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore and employs more than 9,000 team members. Riverside currently operates five PACE Centers in Virginia.
UVA Health System is an academic health system that includes a 604-bed hospital, the UVA School of Medicine, a level I trauma center, nationally recognized cancer and heart centers and primary and specialty clinics throughout Central Virginia. UVA is recognized for excellence by U.S. News & World Report, Best Doctors in America and America's Top Doctors.
JABA (the Jefferson Area Board for Aging) is the Area Agency on Aging serving the city of Charlottesville, and the counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson. JABA cares about all aspects of senior and intergenerational well-being. The nonprofit organization works to promote, establish and preserve sustainable communities for healthy aging that benefit individuals and families of all ages.
Stephanie Heinatz, Consociate Media, +1 757.713.2199, [email protected]
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