On Lok

Beneath a light blue banner celebrating more than 30 years of service, the On Lok Senior Health Center on San Francisco's Bush Street has a single entrance to its bright, welcoming facility. This doorway symbolizes the unifying philosophy of On Lok's radically common-sense approach; it is both economically and ethically beneficial to provide one-stop day healthcare so elderly patients can sleep in their own homes each night. Through this entrance seniors access physician care, dentistry, optometry, meals, exercise equipment, social activities, administrative offices, and a roof-top garden, among many other services.

In 1973 On Lok was founded to serve seniors in the Chinatown and North Beach neighborhoods. The San Francisco Foundation saw this innovative, day health services program as a promising alternative to the traditional nursing home and seeded On Lok with its first grant. Early on, On Lok's leaders were dismayed that Chinese, Italians, Koreans, and Filipinos who worked and lived for many years in North Beach and Chinatown often faced the daunting prospect of living in a nursing home far away. These facilities had no relevance to the entire history of their lives. On Lok's culturally appropriate day care was the first of its kind in the nation to receive Medicaid reimbursement for its programs. In 1983 it pioneered a per person/per month payment structure that challenged the traditional pay-for-services system. Over time, On Lok has proven that this model is more economically efficient than the traditional reimbursement system for healthcare.

On Lok has redefined senior care. It has created a trusting, active environment servicing seniors from the region's wealth of cultures. Through innovative programs like Generations, it brings in children from area childcare centers to interact with seniors each morning. It is amazing to witness the light on everyone's faces when the children arrive and to see how happy the kids are to greet their elder friends.

Preventative health services built around caring for the individual was so effective that On Lok began to search for ways to expand and disseminate its ideas. Under the leadership of then-Executive Director Jennie Chin Hanson, it set out to prove that this model of care could be replicated in different communities and cultures. Jennie led the effort to use On Lok as a prototype in developing a national initiative, Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). PACE centers now operate across 22 states in locations as varied as Denver, Boston, and Columbia, South Carolina. On Lok proved that fresh approaches and new ways of thinking can produce tangible results and reshape elderly care.