SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – After the release of the Green Mountain Care Board’s hospital transformation plan, two things became very clear—to save Vermont’s endangered healthcare system, we need more housing and preventative health care. The consultant who drafted the plan says services like SASH at Cathedral Square should be the model.
“When I fell, and was unconscious on the first floor, someone found me fairly quickly,” said Cathedral Square resident Marj Berthold.
Berthold had a high fall risk. Luckily for her, she lives at Cathedral Square. It’s not a nursing home, but affordable senior housing with a built-in care coordinator and wellness nurse.
“If I had an apartment, out just by myself, not senior housing, they might not find me as quickly,” said Berthold.
SASH, which stands for Support and Services at Home, is a program at Cathedral Square that provides preventative and immediate health care to Medicare recipients where they live.
“By bringing the services to the person’s home, where they live, it takes care of the stigma, it takes care of any transportation issues, it takes care of even having to call and schedule the appointment,” said Kim Fitzgerald, CEO of Cathedral Square.
It’s a new way to think about health care in a system where folks often feel that help is inaccessible.
“It’s great to have somebody watching over me, as compared to having to wait three months to see a doctor,” said Cathedral Square resident John Loso.
According to the Department of Health, by 2030, one in three Vermonters will be over the age of 60. Seniors are the fastest-growing population group in the state, and with 1,200 people on the waiting list for Cathedral Square, housing and health care are in dire need.
“We’re going to lose people, people are going to be unsafe, that’s another thing, they’re going to be more homeless people,” said Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald says the SASH program at Cathedral Square has reduced evictions, ambulance rides, and money spent. With federal recognition, the model is expanding to Maryland, Rhode Island, and most recently, to family and general occupancy housing.
“So just in the last two years, we have piloted in Brattleboro what we’re calling SASH for All, which is really serving those of any age who are living in congregate housing settings,” said Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald also says that the early data shows SASH for All is already preventing evictions and bringing preventative health care to some of Vermont’s lowest-income, most diverse, and disabled communities. After the release of the hospital transformation plan, SASH is expected to continue expanding in Vermont.
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