Where we began…
For a number of years, senior care professionals in Western New York have been interested in promoting person-centered care. With a grant from The John R. Oishei Foundation, Buffalo, NY, the Western New York Alliance for Person Centered Care (WNYAPCC) was established in February 2008 to explore how person-centered care can be introduced and advanced through community collaboration.

The first effort by the Alliance was to seek the thoughts and opinions of operators and administrators from every nursing home and assisted living facility across  the eight counties of Western New York.  In April 2008, more than 70 representatives from for-profit, not-for-profit and county-owned nursing homes and assisted living facilities convened to create a structure for the Alliance. During this event, four major themes emerged: education, research, collaboration and resources.  Voluntary workgroups in these four areas were established for the purpose of identifying specific ways education, research, regulatory, funding, consumer and provider stakeholders could work together to introduce, advance and sustain culture change. 

Once the ideas were collected and distilled, a comprehensive document entitled, “Framework for Change – A Plan to Redefine Long Term Care in WNY,” was created. A summary of this document was shared with more than 350 people at a September 2008 conference. At this conference, Dr. Bill Thomas, one of the culture change movement’s early founders, Bonnie Kantor, executive director of the Pioneer Network, and Jacqueline Pappalardi, director of the Division of Residential Services of the New York State Department of Health, spoke about the importance of bringing person-centered care concepts into our community.

Subsequently, a grant application was submitted to The John R. Oishei Foundation to implement the actions identified in the “Framework for Change.”  In January 2009, a $377,000 grant was authorized enabling WNYAPCC to hire staff and implement person-centered trainings.

In June 2009, the Alliance selected Rhonda Rotterman to be its first executive director. The Alliance is now a formal entity, and is actively working with a number of providers in advancing person-centered care concepts in all eight counties of Western New York, (Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming) as well as leading Eden Alternative® training sessions, LEAP (Mather Lifeways), and several other training sessions in collaboration with the Pioneer Network and Moretti Consultants, LLP.