Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JF&CS) has been awarded $50,000 by the St. Louis City Seniors Fund during its inaugural year of grant funding. The Fund, which was established by passage of the Seniors Count Ballot Initiative, will help St. Louis City seniors tackle common concerns, such as fall prevention and economic stability. 

“This funding provides a chance both to expand the number of senior adults served and to innovate new methods for tackling the problems created by falling, which has such a devastating effect on the ability of seniors to live independently and safely,” said JF&CS CEO L. Louis Albert in a statement.

According to the National Council on Aging, falls result in more than 2.8 million injuries treated in emergency departments annually, including more than 800,000 hospitalizations and more than 27,000 deaths. JF&CS will work to combat this trend through its new Fall Risk Prevention program. This program, funded by the $50,000 grant, will target 500 St. Louis City seniors. These seniors will be given fall-risk screenings and in-home assessments by a trained JF&CS staffer, who will then work with each of them individually to develop a care plan for fall prevention and assess their progress through home visits and phone calls.

In addition to these individualized services, JF&CS will use its community connections and current programs to link these 500 clients to an array of community resources. JF&CS works with hundreds of seniors each year through its ElderLink, Homemaker and Financial Assistance programs, which help keep community members independent and healthy in their own homes. 

“Most seniors we work with desire to stay in their current homes but are worried about their safety. By offering them these tools to age-in-place comfortably, we help them achieve their goal of independence,” said Lori Goldberg, manager of senior services and care management for JF&CS.

For more information on JF&CS senior programming, visit jfcs-stl.org or call 314-993-1000.