Recent research presented at this year's 125th annual meeting of the American Psychologial Association revealed that loneliness and social isolation pose a great public health threat and their impacts have increased and will continue to grow. * 

As part of this impact, a growing number of caregivers being diagnosed with dementia without having a history of it in their family is growing due to these very issues - isolation, lack of activity, falling into depression, among others.  It is imperative that people with dementia and their caregivers continue to live out in the world, in the communities in which they know, to interact and stay connected.

*Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor of psychology at Brigham Young University, noted that "being connected to others socially is widely considered a fundamental human need - crucial to both well-being and survival."

The Mission:

The mission of Gloria's Way is to serve as a one-stop dementia resource bringing necessary services at an affordable cost, directly to our members in their homes and communities. 

Gloria’s Way aims to support this growing population of caregivers and families by promoting and providing family-centered education, wellness, support and respite services at an affordable cost. 

Gloria's Way will provide caregivers with a team of empathetic professionals and volunteers who will assist caregivers in navigating the complex landscape of information and resources to help their loved ones achieve best quality of life possible.

http://www.gloriaswaymc.org

Business model:    

For a nominal membership fee, Gloria’s Way will coordinate and offer an array of service programs in its key mission areas; social, wellness and education - Through regular social events, caregiver and education classes, support groups, assistance with errands, respite and more.

Gloria's Way will seek not to compete or provide redundant services that are currently being offered in the communities in which we choose to work, but intends to work with and complement existing service providers through use of an integrated community-based model that combines the efforts of members and volunteers with the services of local vendors and community organizations to offer services at very affordable prices or for free.

Value of Gloria's Way:

Caregivers:  Through our Memory Care Navigation program - members will receive 1:1 personal assistance in creating and implementing a care plan focused on members financial, healthcare, and wellness needs. A better understanding of the landscape, a support network, and an organization you can trust for answers to most of your needs.

Person's living with dementia: Through our Memory Care Navigation program - 1:1 personal assistance to live life more fully with dementia;  Developing a support network in community.  

Health sector:  Acting as a landing pad for recently diagnosed patients.

Community members, businesses and organizations:  A deeper understanding of the disease, how to identify and interact, a flow of information and services between all the organizations working in community

Person-centered:   Gloria's Way member programs ease the burden and enhance the quality of life for families struggling with this overwhelming journey.  As part of being a valued member of Gloria's Way, members will receive our concierge services.   

Concierge services:  

• Care coordination and Navigation services to support personal independence - (The foundation program of Gloria's Way)
  • Each family who becomes a member will be assigned a Care navigator  to assist caregivers in creating and implementing a care plan focused on financial & estate planning, end of death documents, organization of bill pay, understanding medicare and medicaid, and answering questions about the disease.  
• Respite services for the caregiver - provide non-medical companionship and supervision so the caregiver has some time away.
• Tech services - lessons on 'how to' with phone apps, iPad & computer usage
• Health and medical information resources
• Transportation 
• Home maintenance including light yard work and minor home repairs.

Public programs:  In addition to above, our public programs are designed for individuals living with dementia, family members and caregivers to experience together or individually.  All public programs will be offered in partnership with outside organizations running dementia specific programs. For example: The Alzheimer's Association could provide much of our education & support group programs.  GW will facilitate finding and scheduling the space to hold these programs.  

1) Education events - Disease and caregiver education, tech workshops (how to's, new apps available for use, etc),  research trials

2) Support groups - for persons living with dementia, their families' and caregivers to attend together or individually

3) Fitness & Wellness activities - yoga, meditation, other forms of exercise, 

4) Socialization - events out and about in the community 

We often get asked:  "How does it work?"

The need:  Coordinating these efforts at this level is crucial because local communities are not currently fully equipped to provide support networks for this vulnerable and rapidly-growing population. Although an arduous task, we believe Gloria's Way can make a measurable and sustainable impact through meeting these needs.

Market opportunity:  Done right, dementia villages could potentially prolong independence for those with Alzheimer's disease, boost workforce productivity by helping their caregivers, and take part in building age-friendly cities, all while increasing revenues for local businesses, other non profits and innovators. 

Affordability:  The cost comparison of services charged annually by Gloria's Way vs hiring individual companies to perform the same services is considerably less.  

Profitability:   Because of Gloria Way's focus to keep costs affordable, I do not foresee profitability being extremely high (we are researching revenue sources to make GW more profitable and interested in hearing from the IDEO community!).  However, businesses who partner with Gloria's Way could potentially see an uptick in profits due to Gloria's Way serving as a hub for all businesses providing services or consumer goods to the dementia population.  

How can existing technology help create and sustain dementia villages?  

• Help to connect caregivers to each other in community
• Help to keep GW organized internally
• Help to connect our clients with our service providers
• Help to keep our clients connected to out of state family members and their care partners
• Help to create buzz, add additional programming, stay engaged, & provide opportunity and education
• In-home safety and providing alerts to our staff

Benefits for our members: 

• Lower costs for families
• A way to learn, educate, and empower oneself 
• Respite for the care partner
• Social events that are fun, accepting, caring, and inclusive of everyone within the community
• Activities that encourage an active life style through social connections and active engagement  
• Services such as transportation, light grocery shopping or light yard work
• A way to age well in one's community and home

Benefits for our volunteer workforce: 

"In July the Corporation for National and Community Service released new data showing further evidence that consistent volunteering can improve the health and well-being of people older than age 55."*

Our workforce will consist of both paid staff and volunteers local to the area.  Our focused volunteer age group are retired residents over the age of 65.  Our second largest volunteer group are college and high school students.  

User Journey: (UPDATED 12/26/17) There are many scenarios, but below is link to videos that help to explain user journeys (and links to our youtube page with more videos).

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2faZTp7UO0JKbm3uMVUyOGcLB5bJ12Zf

Potential Partnerships:   Updated 12/19/17

• Working with local gerontologists & neurologists as a referral service
  • I met with a gerontologist at two of our major hospitals who are interested in discussing a collaboration with Gloria's Way to provide a program where 5th yr residents of the hospital provide respite services to our members.  
• Local Universities and High schools
  • In talks with a two local universities for providing interns and/or students for service opportunities along with being included in curriculum for the 2018-2019 school year
• Local non profits supporting the dementia population
  • I have met with many of the local organizations and have received positive feedback to participate
• Alzheimer's Association chapters
  • Spoke to a local chapter and we are in talks in providing education and navigation for our members for the pilot program
• Local businesses  
  • receiving positive feedback to participate once up and running
• Assisted living facilities
  • We've met with 3 now and all are starting to recognize our benefit to them and vice versa.
• Senior centers
  • Have scheduled two public meetings to "introduce" GW to the community.  Also partnering with another local organization to get the word out
• Local municipalities 
  • have spoken to all but 1 of the municipalities that we are working in.
• Faith communities
  • Starting conversations with 3 so far.

Prototypes used for user research / feedback (UPDATED 12/26/17)

View this link for details:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/18bTYALZyRTvIz_8-B4-an686tKSTJXtmouRqYtKBE6E/edit?usp=sharing

Resources: *

Aging Today - Nov/Dec issue 2017