In 2023, Council on Aging’s FastTrack Home pilot in Butler County expanded to include the program’s full range of services.
FastTrack Home is a service of the Butler County Elderly Services Program. It provides in-home care services when many older adults need them most – as they are leaving the hospital or nursing home. Services such as homemaking, home-delivered meals and medical transportation are set up before individuals return home and remain in place for up to 60 days to help in their recovery. The program has been proven to decrease costly and traumatic hospital readmissions.
To help FastTrack Home continue to serve as many older adults in Bulter County as possible, the McCullough-Hyde Foundation awarded COA a $10,000 grant to support the program in the county. The foundation’s Community Granting Program is a philanthropic program that makes investments that address significant health needs of local communities.
The availability of FastTrack Home in Butler County is having a positive impact both on discharging patients and the discharge planners who work to ensure patients have the support they need when they return home.
The manager of the care management department at McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital and Bethesda Butler/TriHealth, recently wrote to COA: “Yesterday we had a very difficult discharge … I did refer the patient to the FastTrack program and <the COA care manager> called me back, today, to tell me she did an assessment on the phone with the patient, and she will be set up with the program. THIS WAS A HUGE WIN, because this patient was very emotional about going home and she was denied nursing home placement. This program is GREAT, and we appreciate all that you all do!”
In 2023, FastTrack Home served 149 older adults in Butler County.