Putnam County awarded 3 Year, $273,000 Federal Grant to Promote Fall Prevention Programs for Seniors

Putnam County’s Office for Senior Resources (“OSR”) is pleased to announce it has been the recipient of the highly competitive 2021 Empowering Communities to Reduce Falls and Falls Risk grant.  

“We all know how devastating falls can be to senior citizens,” Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell said. “This generous grant will help fund programs that will improve the quality of life for our seniors and those with disabilities. It may even save some lives, as our more and more seniors learn vital strategies to can prevent them from taking serious falls.”

OSR is 1 of just 11 cohorts nationwide to receive this grant.  Other recipients include major universities, state departments of health, and state departments for aging. 

The overall purposes of this 3-year grant are to:

  • Goal 1: Through robust partnerships, develop a result-based, comprehensive strategy for reducing falls and falls risk among older adults and adults with disabilities living in your community; and
  • Goal 2: Significantly increase the number of older adults and adults with disabilities who participate in evidence-based falls prevention programs, while concurrently pursuing the sustainability of these programs beyond the end of the grant period.

OSR and its partners will:

  • Engage over 1,000 participants in evidence-based fall prevention programs in 5 counties of the Lower Hudson Valley through both in-person and virtual classes.
  • Develop partnerships with area hospital systems and insurance companies to improve care coordination.
  • Build revenue capacity for sustaining funding needed for these programs beyond the grant period.

Michael Cunningham, the Director of OSR, stated that OSR and its staff are proud to be the lead agency in a five-county partnership with its neighboring Offices for the Aging in Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, and Ulster.  This regional collaboration was an instrumental factor that contributed to being awarded the grant.  Additionally, during the pandemic, we experienced the value of remote programming to help combat social isolation and one element of the grant will enable us to offer newly developed virtual programs to homebound seniors.

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Submitted by Brewster, NY

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