WCAX recently featured the SASH program as part of its coverage. Below is an excerpt from the article:
Nancy Baker and Rebecca Sleeman live at Cathedral Square in South Burlington. Sleeman has lung problems, but she’s able to breathe a sigh of relief thanks to a program called SASH. “Feeling of security, maybe we can stay in our homes longer and still be watched and have a place to live,” Sleeman said. SASH stands for Support and Services at Home. It’s a program aimed to reduce costs Medicare spends on seniors. Participants say SASH helps coordinate doctor visits to their homes and they have health services available to them at all times. “We have two nurses, two wellness nurses, who are great. They’ll come to see you at your home or they’re downstairs in the office,” Baker said. The SASH program is one of a kind and it’s only in Vermont. It started in 2009 to provide seniors and disabled people at Cathedral Square with reliable care at home and prevent expensive trips to the hospital. But it has expanded. And the program began getting federal funding in 2011. “We’ve gone from one SASH program in 2009 to 52 different SASH panels across the state. So, we now have roughly 4,200 people in the state of Vermont participating in SASH,” said Molly Dugan, the director of SASH. In addition to increasing access to health care, the SASH program aims to decrease health care costs across the state. SASH is part of the Blueprint for Health Reform, Vermont’s plan for sustainable health care reform.
To read the entire article click here. You can also view the video coverage using there or in the embedded video below.