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Purpose Prize

The Latest from CoGenerate

Join the fight to save AmeriCorps

Join the fight to save AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps is in jeopardy.  Like so many other critical programs and services, AmeriCorps is at risk of being dismantled by DOGE, with programs shuttered and 85% of agency staff now on administrative leave.  As a result, nearly 40,000 communities across the nation may...

Can Intergenerational Connection Heal Us?

Can Intergenerational Connection Heal Us?

The problems of social isolation and loneliness have been well documented.  We know that too many Americans, particularly young adults and older ones, feel lonely too much of the time. We know how we got here – the decline in membership groups, civic and community...

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David Schwartz

The Eldercare Companies, Inc.
Purpose Prize Fellow 2006

After his mother died of fall-related injuries, former state legislator David Schwartz, 67, became passionate about preventing geriatric falls and founded ElderCare Companies.

After his mother died of fall-related injuries, former state legislator David Schwartz, 67, became passionate about preventing geriatric falls and founded ElderCare Companies.The organization’s goal is to reduce the incidence, severity, and costs of geriatric falls in all 50 states. Eleven million older Americans fall every year with 1.8 million sustaining serious injuries. To reduce that number, Schwartz created a fall prevention program that provides counseling about fall risks, conducts group workshops, distributes monthly reminders of preventative measures, and develops a support system tool that disseminates risk reports to an elder’s family, friends, doctors, and pharmacists.In a recent project in South Florida, ElderCare was able to reduce hospitalizations for falls by more than 50 percent and nursing home admissions by 65 percent among 6,000 low-income elders. Projects in New York and Philadelphia yielded similar results. ElderCare will expand to ten more states over the next few years, and Schwartz is negotiating with HMOs to adopt the program.