Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County
Website provides resources to help build an aging-friendly community
RESULTS:
Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County (CSSW) is a member agency of the Diocese of Lansing Catholic Charities. As part of carrying out its mission, CSSW established an initiative called “Ahead of the Curve Washtenaw” to aid caregivers of older adults by providing accessible, highly targeted resources to enable proactive planning and preparation for future care needs.
CSSW sought NewFoundry’s help to implement the first phase of this initiative, comprised of three technology innovations integrated together in one web destination:
- Senior Resource Directory – a web-accessible database of county-wide resources, presented in a format that makes it easy for caregivers to search and filter results by location, eligibility, and more.
- Caregiver Assessment Tool – a web application that helps caregivers uncover risk factors, anticipate needs, and find health and social services referrals tailored to their specific situation.
- Caregiver Training Program – a web portal through which caregivers may access a multimedia-format curriculum of evidence-based training on a variety of senior-care topics.
NewFoundry strategists, designers, and engineers collaborated with students from the University of Michigan School of Information and the Ahead of the Curve Washtenaw team on this project, which included user research conducted as part of the UMSI students’ coursework. Using the research as an input, NewFoundry fleshed out the user experience, designed the user interface, and provided the end-to-end engineering that brought the suite of caregiver resources to life. Special consideration was given to ensure the interface delivers an excellent experience for a wide range of ages and abilities using handheld, tablet, and desktop devices.
Caregivers of older adults in Washtenaw County and beyond now have three critical, never-before available resources at their fingertips, enabling high-quality care, proactive decision-making, and better outcomes. Ahead of the Curve Washtenaw is supported by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. For more information, visit getaheadwashtenaw.org.
PROCESS AND DELIVERABLES: