Promising Practices
The Promising Practices database informs professionals and community members about documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life.
The ultimate goal is to support the systematic adoption, implementation, and evaluation of successful programs, practices, and policy changes. The database provides carefully reviewed, documented, and ranked practices that range from good ideas to evidence-based practices.
Learn more about the ranking methodology.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The Guided Care Model aims to better health outcomes and reduce spending for aging adults with multiple chronic conditions.
Impact: The Guided Care Model has been shown to improve quality of care and reduce the use of home health care.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Children, Families
Goal: The Healthy Lifestyles Initiative works to integrate efforts to increase the proportion of Kansas City children and their families practicing healthy behaviors at a healthy weight.
Impact: Collaboration among multiple agencies across public and private sectors resulted in reaching almost 1 million people in the Kansas City area. Healthy weight assessments and plans received at primary care clinics are helping to promote healthy eating and living among children and their families.
Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Women, Men
Goal: The respite program's goal is to stop the revolving door of emergency department treatment by providing a supervised facility with a level of care from an on-site nurse similar to what a patient might receive from an attentive family member.
Impact: The program has been able to provide better care for a vulnerable population and reduce overall cost of care by lowering the number of ambulance calls, emergency department visits, and inpatient stays.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Transportation, Older Adults
Goal: The purpose of Transportation Solutions for Caregivers: A Solutions Package for Volunteer Transportation Programs, is to provide some guidance and basic information to existing volunteer programs as well as those planning to start new ones. Through such programs, Easter Seals aspires to help communities meet the transportation needs and preference of older adults and their caregivers who reside therein and maintain a mobile older population.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Transportation, Adults, Older Adults
Goal: Shepherd's Center Central is a local leader in the regional effort to ensure that all people can age successfully with dignity, security, and respect.
Impact: The Wheels that Care program helped 77 older adults attend their necessary appointments and maintain their independence through 1,550 hours of travel time to and from participants' homes and their appointments.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Children, Teens, Adults, Families, Urban
Goal: The goals of this program are three-fold: first, to remove unwanted improperly stored guns from homes; second, to educate the community about the increased risk of gun-related injuries in the home and the importance of safe gun storage; and third, to identify individuals possessing improperly stored guns at home and provide them with safety information and alternatives.
Impact: This program shows a strong collaboration between health care providers and public safety offices and showcases a low-cost means of removing unwanted firearms from the community. Additionally, most participants felt their homes were safer after turning in their firearm(s).
Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to give Manchester area youth tools to earn their GEDs and meet their career goals.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The Matter of Balance/Volunteer Lay Leader (MOB/VLL) program is designed to reduce the fear of falling, stop the fear of falling cycle, and improve the activity levels among community-dwelling older adults. The goal of the program is to use volunteer lay leaders as facilitators, in order to make the program affordable to offer in the community setting.
Impact: When following up one year after the program, participants reported significant gains in fall management and there was a trend to increased exercise level as well. In addition, participants sustained a reduction in monthly falls.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to provide abused, abandoned and neglected girls and boys with a safe, caring, loving environment where they gain confidence to get better and learn skills to become productive citizens.