Our History
Pioneering Services for Older Adults
In 2005, IOA celebrated 30 years of service. IOA had it beginnings in 1975 when Dr. Lawrence Feigenbaum spearheaded the initiative to provide frail adults with an alternative to nursing home placement. The Mount Zion Hospital Adult Day Health Center was born, the first community hospital to provide a program enabling people to receive the services they need while continuing to live at home. Incorporating in 1985 as a separate non-profit organization, IOA has grown to become one of the largest providers of community-based services for seniors. IOA has always served those needing assistance without regard to ethnic background, religious preference, sexual identity, or income.
1975
- Mount Zion Hospital launches the Adult Day Health Center (now the Ruth Ann Rosenberg Center) to help frail and disabled seniors maintain their independence.
1978
- Mount Zion Hospital establishes Artworks (now Center for Elders and Youth in the Arts), the first in-home creative arts program in the country for homebound seniors.
1982
- The State of California, Department of Aging, awards IOA the contract to provide services for the Multipurpose Senior Service Program (MSSP). The State has renewed this contact every year to the present.
1983
- Under the leadership of Dr. Lawrence Feigenbaum, Mount Zion Hospital establishes an Alzheimer’s Day Center, the first day center specifically for care of Alzheimer’s patients in San Francisco. The Alzheimer’s Day Center is now the largest in the city.
- Selected as the coordinating agency for San Francisco’s Elder Abuse Prevention Program.
1985
- Mount Zion Hospital formally establishes Institute on Aging (IOA) as a separate non-profit organization. IOA opens offices in the community with challenge grants from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund and the Walter and Elise Haas Fund.
1987
- W.K. Kellogg Foundation grants $983,000 to IOA to establish a program of Professional Education, the only site in the United States offering multi-disiplinary post-graduate geriatric fellowhsips.
1990
- Mount Zion Hospital successfully integrates with UCSF. IOA becomes a subsidiary of Mount Zion Health Fund, a foundation with close ties to Mount Zion Hospital and UCSF.
1992
- IOA invited to join the National Chronic Care Consortium,
a group of the 20 leading healthcare organizations in the nation dedicated to innovation in chronic care delivery.
1995
- IOA Leadership Council honors Rhoda Goldman, Richard Goldman, Ruth Ann Rosenberg, and Julius R. Krevens, MD.
- Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention becomes a program of IOA.
- City and County of San Francisco, Human Services Agency, selects IOA to be the contracted provider of Linkages, a case management service for adults with disabilities.
1996
- IOA develops formal affiliations with On Lok to establish SeniorHealth centers in the Western Addition and Richmond Districts of San Francisco, offering a Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE).
1997
- The ElderShelter, a joint program of IOA and San Francisco’s Adult Protective Services, opens to house seniors who have been abused or are in danger of mistreatment.
1999
- Rose and Eugene Kleiner give the for-profit Older Adults Care Management (OACM), a home care and care management organization serving San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, to IOA.
2000
- IOA partners with BRIDGE Housing to create a new facility at 3575 Geary Boulevard, combining IOA services and affordable senior housing.
- Lead Capital Campaign gifts have been received from the Goldman Family, Rose and Eugene Kleiner, Koret Foundation, Mount Zion Health Fund, and Ruth Ann Rosenberg.
2002
- San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services awards IOA a contract to operate Neighborhood Resource Centers in the Richmond, the Western Addition and the Mission Districts, offering information and advice about senior services.
- IOA partners with California Pacific Medical Center to open the Irene Swindells Center for Alzheimer’s day treatment.
- Marin county’s Care Management and Fiduciary Services joins IOA. Care Management and Fiduciary Services provides fiduciary services and financial management for seniors.
- IOA Department of Psychology is established, offering Northern California's largest clincial psychology training program with an emphasis on home-based psychotherapy.
2004
- IOA Assessment Center opens, providing comprehensive diagnosis and management planning for seniors with complex health problems, and their families.
2005
- Older Adults Care Management becomes a non-profit organization and merges into IOA.
- Bay Area Jewish Healing Center joins IOA and forms a multi-faith spiritual healing program.
- IOA launches second phase of the 3575 Geary Campaign to establish a Senior Campus with additional lead gifts from Lisa and Mathew Chanoff, Rose and Eugene Kleiner Family Foundation, the Bernard Osher Foundation, and Audrey and Robert Sockolov. The Senior Campus will combine affordable housing for seniors of modest income with IOA’s comprehensive health services and community programs.
2007
- IOA selected as the coordinating agency for the Community Living Fund, working with 7 partner organizations to provide additional funds for adults at risk of institutionaliziation.