The Practice Change Fellowship program will provide Bavineau with $90,000 to implement a new geriatric project. Her project, Hospital to Home, will support elderly heart patients in their transition home from a hospital stay.

        According to Bavineau, "customized care during this critical time is expected to improve older adults’ health status, and reduce the costs associated with emergency room visits and hospital readmissions." Project components will include coordination between hospital and community-based care, in-home visits by social workers, and education to help older adults better manage their health conditions. 

        Bavineau is vice president of quality assurance and special initiatives at Sheltering Arms Senior Services, and the executive director of Care for Elders, a partnership of more than 80 local organizations working to improve the care and services provided to older adults and family caregivers in Harris County.

        A licensed social worker, Bavineau has worked in geriatrics for more than 20 years, overseeing senior service programs and initiatives. She recently received the Joseph C. Valley Community Advocate Award and Houston’s Social Worker of the Year Award.

About the Practice Change Fellows program           

The Practice Change Fellows program is supported by Atlantic Philanthropies and the John A. Hartford Foundation and is under the direction of Eric A. Coleman, M.D., from the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center.  The co-director of the program is Nancy Whitelaw, Ph.D., from the National Council on Aging (NCOA). The Practice Change Fellows program intends to create a network of specialists dedicated to influencing health care delivery and improving the health of older adults.  To learn more about the program, please visit www.practicechangefellows.org.

About Sheltering Arms Senior Services

Sheltering Arms Senior Services promotes the dignity and independence of older adults through services, advocacy, and support for caregivers. More than 54,000 older adults and their families in the Houston area are helped each year via programs including home health care, geriatric care management and consultation, adult day care, telephone reassurance, case management and housing and energy management. Sheltering Arms serves as the lead organization for Care for Elders, a partnership of more than 80 organizations whose mission is to improve the care and services provided to vulnerable older adults and family caregivers in Harris County.  For more information call 713-956-1888 or visit www.shelteringarms.org.