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Creating Operational Efficiencies and Better Outcomes at New Hanover County Senior Resource Center
Since 1992, the Senior Resource Center has served the needs of seniors living in and around New Hanover County in North Carolina, as part of its mission to promote wellness, encourage independence, and enhance the quality of life for all older persons. The range of services offered spans social, nutrition, behavioral, and physical needs, including fitness and recreational activities, mental health services, in-person as well as home-delivered meals, transportation assistance, and even tax assistance and volunteer opportunities.
The Challenge
Because the Senior Resource Center relies heavily on the dedication of volunteers, it relied on a volunteer- created access database. While this solution met the needs of the Center at one time, as the years progressed, limitations began to impact the Center’s ability to and capacity to provide its essential services and fulfill its mission.
The system could not integrate with additional programs and services, limiting the Center’s ability to see a full picture of the people it served and understand where there was overlap of services or where someone was falling between the cracks. Duplicate client entries and data quality issues made it difficult for the Center to accurately gauge the efficacy of their programs, which was especially challenging when it came to reporting for funding source.
The Solution
In 2009, the Senior Resource Center adopted ServTracker, which helped the Senior Resource Center make reliable, accurate, and accessible data the new standard. With greater ability to adapt to changing grant standards, the Center has been able to expand the services and systems it can track, and with greater tracking comes greater reporting—which has opened up new grant and funding opportunities.
Key Benefits and Results
With ServTracker, social workers and transportation staff can enter and review case notes to provide better, more tailored care to their clients. By creating a single source of truth for all services, the Center can eliminate data silos that contribute to fragmented and ineffective services. And when multiple departments and service providers have a clear, holistic look at each client, it helps humanize them and better enables the Center to address the needs of the whole person. Most importantly, ServTracker enabled the Center to free up staff time, which it has been able to reinvest in what matters most: directly helping the people they serve.
Superior Client Tracking
With the ability to track services, the Center’s operations have become much more manageable, as well as quantifiable. For example, last year they recorded 70,000+ recreation logins, tracking attendance and class preferences.
Saving Time and Making Gains
Reduced manual data entry time from 2–3 days to 30–60 minutes for state reporting of 1,100 daily meals; eliminated duplicate data entry across programs through centralized workflows.
Better Data and Reporting
Quick identification of missing or incorrect information, supporting compliance with the county’s Master Aging Plan and ensuring accurate fund reporting; ability to track KPIs across all core services, as well as follow up on clients who terminate services, track hospital readmissions, etc.
Expanded Service Capacity and Resource Optimization
Increased program offerings based on real-time attendance data; supported over 200% growth in congregate meals and 85% in home-delivered meals during the 2019 pandemic by accurately tracking funding sources.
Cost Reduction and Modernization
Digitized route planning for 30 mobile meal routes, improving volunteer coordination and issue response time; measurable quarterly savings on ink and paper.
Conclusion
Since adopting ServTracker, the Senior Resource Center has made enormous strides in efficiency and producing measurable outcomes for the people they serve. With ServTracker, the Center has been able to make the most of its resources. By establishing a single source of truth for all the programs and services, each service provider gains a holistic look at each client and can eliminate waste, ensure that resources are being used efficiently, and above all, make a greater impact on the health and wellbeing of senior citizens in New Hanover County and beyond.
