Keeping PACE - a program worth considering

 Keeping PACE With Seniors

     With the number of Baby Boomers eligible for Medicare and Medicaid about to explode, a relatively new healthcare program is knocking on Traverse City’s door.
     The program is called PACE (Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) and it serves 10 sites in Michigan, all in population centers in mid and southern Michigan.

     “What PACE offers is an individual care program,” said PACE director Rod Otten at Tuesday’s Rotary Club meeting. “It allows a person, generally around 80-years-old, to get transportation to a rehab center a couple days a week. After the patient is done going through rehab and being evaluated by his or her team, they are returned to where they live.”
     Each PACE program around the state serves 150-250 seniors and the average duration of the PACE experience is 3-5 years.

     Grand Traverse Pavilions would be the facilitator for such a program in Traverse City, but the details haven’t been worked out yet, according to Kory Hansen of the Pavilions, who introduced the topic at Tuesday’s meeting.

     The 10 PACE centers in Michigan include two in the Detroit area and one each in Ypsilanti, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Battle Creek, Saginaw, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Muskegon.