Enabling Aging in Place
Enabling Aging in Place supported organizations to help older adults age at home with formal support.
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- Topics
- Aging in place
- Patient engagement
- Long-term care
- Audience
Community organization
Healthcare leader
Point of care provider
What is Enabling Aging in Place
Through the Enabling Aging in Place collaborative, 26 health and social service organizations worked alongside older adults, care partners and community partners to strengthen locally grounded, person-centred approaches shaped by lived experience and real-world conditions. Together, they advanced practical ways to bring care closer to home and support people to live safely and well in their communities.
Evidence shows that one in 10 people who enter long-term care potentially could have been supported at home with formal support. Yet barriers such as system complexity, transportation and geographic disparities can make this difficult. Through Enabling Aging in Place, teams worked to address these challenges by focusing on:
Improving system navigation and coordination
Reducing financial barriers
Increasing service flexibility and respite for care partners
Delivering tailored health and social services
Providing access to cultural, language and emotional supports
Strengthening community connections and opportunities for social participation
Meet the teams
The following organizations and communities were invited to participate in the Enabling Aging in Place collaborative.
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Our impact in numbers
10,400
older adults reached
200
partners supported teams
11
teams linked their efforts to reducing unnecessary emergency department visits
What we learned
Support from familiar people and places builds trust
Across communities, aging in place was supported through person-centred, relationship-based care. Older adults and families often preferred receiving support from familiar people and in places they already knew. Continuity and trust helped providers respond earlier and tailor supports to individual needs.
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Everyday conditions shape outcomes
Health and well-being were closely connected to everyday conditions. Housing stability, social connection, food security, care partner well-being and a sense of belonging influenced whether someone could remain independent at home. Addressing these needs alongside clinical care helped reduce crises and strengthened confidence among older adults and families.
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Clear connections make it easier to find and access support
Helping older adults and care partners find and access local people, programs and services made it easier to get help when it was needed. Navigation supports and trusted community guides helped people know where to turn and how to get assistance.
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Social connection supports health and well-being
Staying socially connected helped reduce isolation, supported overall well-being and kept people active and engaged in their communities. Staying connected also helped older adults remain independent.
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Starting with local strengths supports lasting solutions
Many teams drew on asset-based community development (ABCD) approaches, starting with local strengths, relationships and existing capacity. Building on what was already present in communities supported solutions that fit local contexts and could be sustained over time.
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Shared leadership supports sustainable progress
Community leadership played an important role. Sustainable progress grew from local assets and partnerships, with systems working alongside communities to enable and support the work.
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“Used to working within our small island communities, it is a rare treat to connect with teams from across the country and to access the expertise of our coach and the many resources from the HEC team. This is the kind of meaningful support we need to create real change with, and for, older adults in our communities.”
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