Vital Medical Care Access for Seniors

Grantee: South Park Senior Citizens
Timeframe: July 2024 – June 2026 | Amount: $304,192.85

• Year 1: July 2024 – June 2025. Amount: $131,457
• Year 2: July 2025 – June 2026. Amount: $172,735.85

South Park Senior Citizens (SPSC) connects vulnerable, low-income, BIPOC, immigrant, refugee, and/or undocumented seniors facing language, cultural, financial, technology, insurance coverage, and transportation barriers to crucial, supportive healthcare.

SPSC’s Vital Medical Care Access for Seniors (VMCAS) Program targets health disparities and medical system barriers affecting the most vulnerable seniors. Through VMCAS, SPSC intends to serve 98-106 seniors from BIPOC, immigrant, undocumented, and/or uninsured or underinsured backgrounds. The activities under VMCAS will include equitably identifying and enrolling seniors with high medical needs and poor insurance coverage, creating personalized care plans, providing financial assistance for care, coordinating seniors’ entry into various healthcare systems, offering interpretation/translation support, educating seniors about their healthcare options, and establishing documentation and administrative procedures for accountability and reporting.

This project allows SPSC to offer deeper assistance to care plan seniors with acute needs. In Year 1, SPSC connected a significant percentage of seniors to medical, dental, and mental health care providers. Transportation assistance services were also provided, with successful completion of numerous rides to essential appointments. SPSC aims to address untreated medical concerns among acute-needs seniors and enhance their independent reliance on medical systems and resources.

This project will also support seniors requiring preventative care assistance. Preventative care seniors do not require intensive support but seek assistance from Social Service Navigators when facing high medical bills that could deplete their limited income, leading to debt or eviction. Social Service Navigators help by connecting them to reduced-cost medical care, negotiating bills and payment plans, enrolling them in Medicare, and securing cost coverage through VMCAS. SPSC  will connect VMCAS seniors to local healthcare providers best suited to address their medical concerns. SPSC has existing referral-based partnerships with several local human service agencies and healthcare providers.

Seniors from various racial demographics are served by SPSC, with Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Hispanic communities being prominently represented. Most seniors hail from Seattle neighborhoods like South Park, Georgetown, White Center, Delridge, and Rainier Valley, which are areas with significant poverty rates among the elderly population. Through social services case management, SPSC has observed that many seniors are living at or below the poverty line, facing nutritional risks, struggling with health literacy, intimidated by complex health systems, and dealing with unprocessed trauma. SPSC aims to counteract systemic racism by providing equitable service, empathy, and personalized guidance and empowerment through the VMCAS. SPSC Navigators speak multiple languages and offer comprehensive support, ranging from translation/interpretation to medical services coordination and financial assistance. These specialists build rapport with seniors, facilitating open communication and ensuring that seniors’ preferences and strengths are considered in their care plans.

Through the VMCAS, SPSC intends to center the voices of the seniors served by incorporating their preferences, input, and strengths into customized care plans to promote independence and wellness.

ABOUT OUR GRANTEE

South Park Senior Citizens

SPSC promotes healthy aging by creating a space of belonging that provides culturally responsive support services including sustainable access to nutritious meals, social services, physical activities, continued learning, and social engagement.

SPSC’s vision is that King County seniors have access to services, and the cultural community needed to lead vibrant, healthy, and independent lives.