Release Date: March 16, 2001
Contact: Rosann Doran
Phone: 303 438-6308

Broomfield’s Senior Center is the first nationally accredited center in Colorado and the 44^th in the nation. Cheering this week after learning of the honor are the 70-plus Broomfield residents who shepherded the center’s assessment efforts.

The national senior center accreditation process is part of a new effort by the National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC) which is affiliated with the National Council on Aging (NCOA).

The award was presented in New Orleans last week at the annual NISC conference to attendee Ann Lund, former supervisor of senior services, and accreditation coordinator, and Colorado’s elected delegate to NISC.

According to Melinda Ludwiczak, the on-site peer reviewer for the accreditation process, Broomfield "nailed" the assessment, receiving 177 of 187 possible points. Ludwiczak was in Broomfield for the final leg of the assessment the week of February 16.

A minimum of 135 total points is required for accreditation. Broomfield attained a perfect score in four areas: community, program planning, evaluation, and facility. Other areas assessed were: purpose, governance, administration and human resources, fiscal management, and records and reports. The center scored at a level of 89 percent or above in all categories.

The 70 community volunteers worked on committees studying and assessing each of these areas. They operated under a volunteer steering committee that worked with Senior Center staff to decide how to implement the assessment process and identify and invite community members to participate in the process.

After the committees completed their work, an off-site reviewer assessed the results. The next step was for an on-site review, which was completed by Ludwiczak, a member of the NISC Executive Committee who also manages a senior center in Minnesota.

Some comments by the peer reviewers included "excellent work plan," "impressive relationship with local newspaper," "Senior Center works very well with its board," "good use of community resources to supplement personnel shared staff, interns and services provider coalition," "comprehensive input of staff, participants and Board," and "excellent annual report, narrative, statistics and good distribution to stakeholders."

In speaking at an assessment wrap-up reception last month to volunteers who helped with the self-assessment, Ludwiczak reviewed the center’s scores and congratulated Broomfield on an excellent facility.

She noted that some of the ideas and tools used in Broomfield are adaptable to other centers. Two that will be listed in a "Best Practices" publication are the older worker job fair that the senior center partnered with Broomfield Chamber of Commerce, and the implementation magnetic signs for the cars of volunteer Meals on Wheels drivers. These signs were cited because they offered safety for the consumer while providing visibility for the program, according to Ludwiczak.