The Janus Project

Program Mission Statement:

(self-reported)

The Janus Project provides training for doctors, hospice workers, healthcare providers, and others involved in caring for the medical, emotional, spiritual, and other end-of-life needs of the under-served, overlooked residents of the rural northern Michigan including the large low-income/unemployed population.

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.) is described by economist s as America’s “Second Appalachia” because of the lowest household income af

Score Summary

Overall Score:	Excellent
Practice Principles:	Excellent
Faith Related Elements:	Excellent
Outcome Measures:	Excellent
Change Process:	Good

Program Facts

• Paid (FTE) Staff Working: 3
• Program Participants Last Year: 2000
• Meets about 4 time(s) with each participant per month
• Participants remain in the program for 12 months

Board Activities

Funding Overview

(self-reported)

	This Program	This Organization
Organization Budget: $98,700 Program Budget: $16,800
Foundation Grants	40%	33%
Government Grants/Contracts	0%	0%
Individual Gifts	15%	17%
Business/Corporate Gifts	0%	10%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	0%	15%
Dues/Fees/Income	25%	0%
Other	20%	25%
	Average Program Funding From All Samaritan Programs	Average Organization Funding From All Samaritan Organizations
The next charts display the average funding sources for all programs currently in the Samaritan Guide for your comparison. Average Organization Budget: $3,820,907 Average Program Budget: $480,643
Foundation Grants	24%	18%
Government Grants/Contracts	3%	8%
Individual Gifts	36%	33%
Business/Corporate Gifts	9%	8%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	9%	10%
Dues/Fees/Income	7%	9%
Other	10%	11%

It is important to maintain diverse income sources for your programs and for your oganization as a whole. Doing so provides long-term financial stability to your organizations and programs. It is also important to note that government funding often comes with stipulations and restrictions. More information is available in the Raising Resources Toolkit - pdf.

Score Details

Program Focus
Program Mission	Clarity and specificity of the program's mission statement.	Good
Target Population	Clarity and specificity of the programs target clientele.	Excellent
Eligibility Criteria	Clarity and specificity of the program's eligibility criteria.	Good
Program Requirements	Well defined requirements for client participation.	Good
Referrals From Other Organizations	Do other organizations recommend this program to their clientele.	Better
Referrals to Other Organizations	Does this program recommend other programs to their clients?	Excellent
Volunteer to Staff Ratio	Are volunteers effectively incorporated into the program?	Good
Past Participant Recruiting	Are past program participants recruited as volunteers?	Better
Evaluation and Practice Princples
Practice Principles	How supports and resources are provided to increase outcomes.	Excellent
Outcome Measurement	The ability to measure stated program outcomes.	Excellent
Change Process	Specific and measurable statement of the program's goals.	Good
Faith Related Elements	Integration of faith related elements.	Excellent
Measurement Frequency	Frequency of measuring client outcomes.	Excellent
Program Evaluation	Level of the budget allocated to measuring client outcomes.	Excellent
Institutional Stability
Organization Age	A measure of the organization's durability.	Excellent
Board Oversight	How involved in the program are the members of its board?	Excellent
Program Duration	Average duration of a clients participation with a program.	Better
Finances
Budget Diffusion	Diversity of the programs funding sources.	Excellent
Government Funding	Does this program accept little or no government funding?	Excellent

Program Score Details

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Outcomes & Measures:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide at least three clear and specific outcomes with corresponding measures in which a relationship is shown between outcomes and measures.

Outcome 1: Develop skills to provide quality care at the “end-of-life” including empathy, compassion and an element of reverence.

Measure Used:
Evaluations at the end of training , continuing medical education (CME) credits with Bell Memorial Hospital.

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Outcome 2: Increase self-awareness of the strength and weaknesses of participants involving professional care skills

Measure Used:
Personal interviews and consultations with participants following training sessions.

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Outcome 3: Deeper Level of appreciation and respect for interdisciplinary medical care for the end-of-life care for medical patients.

Measure Used:
Followup survey of relationships between participants at 12 faith-based shared programs, workshops and seminars including the relationships between doctors and other healthcare workers who are put on a level playing field where everyone is equal.

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Outcome 4: All participants (doctors, other healthcare workers) have a better understanding of their and co-worker duties and feelings because everyone is on an “equal ground” during training. The healthcare professionals develop a better respect for each other and their duties because during training, doctors have the same status as every healthcare worker including everyone is on a first name basis, everyone speaks equally, and all opinion and thoughts care the same weight.

Measure Used:
Feedback from everyone involved in training, and trainers witness outcomes because they “watch it happen” during training sessions.

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Outcome 5: Increased cooperation and creation of new projects/programs between hospices, faith communities and local physicians on a wide range of “end-of-life” care from spiritual to medical.

Measure Used:
The number of partnerships and coalitions that develop because of the Janus Project including 12 shared programs, workshops and seminars. The 12 shared programs include a “faith-based health initiative” across northern Michigan that is in its early planning stages and involves 9 faith traditions and all Upper Peninsula medical providers.

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Change Process:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide clear, measurable, client-focused stages of change based on participant participation.

Through faith-based training, the Janus Project teaches doctors and other healthcare workers a wide-range of skills for providing thoughtful and compassionate care for “end-of-life” patients including the spiritual needs.

Participants are educated on ways to provide compassionate care to low-income under-served rural residents who have been overlooked by other projects.

Training includes putting doctors and healthcare workers on a level playing field where honest and heart-felt discussions can address sensitive "end-of-life" issues not addressed in the workplace environment.

The level playing field allows the average healthcare worker to express their true feelings about ed-of-life care to doctors without fear of reprisal, while doctors also educate the workers on challenges faced by physicians when providing compassionate care.

Participants leave with better skills on dealing with each other and the patients; and that translates into more respect between all involved.

The Janus Projects provides tools for healthcare professionals to use in mixing faith-based and/or spiritual care with traditional mainstream medical care that often overlooks the emotional needs of those facing the end of their life.

Economists have described in great detail the challenges facing the chronically unemployed and low income in rural northern Michigan describing the Upper Peninsula as the “Second Appalachia.”

The skills include providing specialized spiritual support for those from a rural, low income background.

Doctors and other healthcare workers leave with a better knowledge on how they can work as a team in providing this spiritual end of life care.

Program Score - Historical Review

Note: Significant decreases in scores may be the result of incomplete data in a Samaritan Award application.

End Notes

Incomplete Applications

Significant decreases in certain scores may indicate failure to comprehensively complete certain sections of the Samaritan Award application. Please be sure to fill out every question in the Samaritan Award application.

Relative Scoring

Total program scores are partially computed against other programs from within the same pool of applications and so are not cumulative.

Additional Reference Material

More information on scoring and methodology may be found on the Samaritan Guide and Award website.

Acton Institute Relationship

The Samaritan Guide and Samaritan Award are projects run by the Acton Institute. Inclusion in the Guide does not signify endorsement by the Acton Institute. More information on why the Acton Institute runs this project is available online.