Partners in Care Concierge

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Medical appointments can be confusing and scary, especially if you go alone. That’s why Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County (JFS) has developed the Partners in Care Concierge (PiCC) program. PiCC is a medical appointment accompaniment program that provides help and support for older adults in the complicated world of health care, before, during and after their appointments.

PiCC is an innovative program that provides support for older adults and their family members via medical appointment accompaniment. PiCC enables older adults to better access health care, while at the same time enhancing efficiency of health care for older adults. PiCC 'Partners’ facilitate the preparation for, and communication during, medical appointments as well as provide accurate information about the medical visit to family caregivers in the form of a written report of what transpired, and details of any follow-up requirements.

Our own transportation transports the older adult and the volunteer to and from the medical appointment. The volunteer then assists the older adult in understanding the conversation with the doctor, ensuring that all questions are asked and answered during the appointment. The volunteer is able to ensure that the information given during the appt is accurately understood by the older adult and any adult child involved is then made aware as well.

We are experiencing an increase in older adults looking to access this service, specifically those whose native languages are Arabic, Spanish, and Chinese. We are looking for volunteers to agree to volunteer for at least one medical appt per month and I am hoping some of you will again be interested!

If you think that this might be of interest to your members, please let me know!