Residents at Kendal Crosslands Communities in Pennsylvania, Kendal at Granville and Kendal at Oberlin in Ohio, and Kendal at Hanover in New Hampshire, are being "Collaged" (one resident's affectionate name for the process) annually. The resident-specific outcome data generated by Collage are used by Kendal's affiliate communities to develop individualized service plans for residents and to identify areas for organizational performance improvement. As the Kendal communities prepare for CARF/CCAC Accreditation, using Collage data in these ways helps them to meet the accreditation performance improvement standards.

Kendal at Granville opened in April of 2005 and began offering Collage assessments the following year. After evaluating data from just 15 assessments the staff realized the value of being able to look at aggregated data. By April of 2007, 85% of their residents have participated in the assessment and the data obtained from Collage is guiding the community in the implementation of several wellness initiatives. Some of these initiatives involve physical fitness, balance awareness, and managing and adapting to change.

Kendal's affiliate, Kendal Outreach, has been collaborating on this joint venture with the Institute for Aging Research of Hebrew SeniorLife, interRAI (a collaborative network of researchers in over 20 countries committed to improving health care for persons who are elderly, frail, or disabled), TeleSys Technologies (a software developer), and a consortium of Collage members from around the country, to implement and improve this first-of-its-kind assessment. Data gathered throughout the consortium will be submitted to a national data repository and will be available to all members. Aggregated community data will have the potential to improve care and services to seniors in CCRCs around the country. You can read more about Collage by visiting the website at www.collageaging.org.