The Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Mercer County is gearing up to offer a comprehensive concierge service for seniors that may be the first of its kind in the nation.

The groundbreaking initiative, which is still in the planning stages, is designed to allow seniors to age in place in their own homes by giving them access to the necessary practical, social, emotional, and physical supports that will make that possible.

The agency expects to launch the program in January with the support of a three-year grant from a private donor.

In conjunction with the new service, JFCS has brought Jill Gartenberg Jaclin on board to serve as program director. Jaclin, who holds a master’s degree in social work from Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work, previously served as associate campaign director of the United Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks.

“This is to develop a concierge program for targeting the Princeton community’s seniors who can afford to pay for services and who want to stay in their homes,” Jaclin said during a recent interview in her new office.

“We’re going to be doing a complete assessment of individuals — home safety, physical, emotional, and cognitive — and they will have a care manager dedicated to them to do any case management needed,” she said. “Right now, we are starting with Princeton, but we do expect to expand to the Greater Mercer County area.

“A lot of this comes because so many [adult] children don’t live in the area, and this is challenging,” Jaclin added. “It’s been sort of percolating for a few years, and given JFCS’ roots in the community for 70 years and the depth of services it offers, it seemed a good place to house the program.”

The new concierge program will offer a broad range of services, according to Jaclin — geriatric care management, monthly telephone monitoring, around-the-clock emergency care, exercise programs, home-delivered meals, and wellness seminars on such issues as estate planning and organizing records. The agency will also make available lists of prescreened providers in the community, such as home health aides, handymen, housecleaning services, and transportation services. JFCS is in the process of working out a schedule of fees for the services.

To the best of her knowledge, Jaclin said, no other agency is offering this kind of comprehensive concierge care, although an organization in Boston known as Beacon Hill Village is providing a more limited array of services to allow seniors there to age in place. “They are one of the first to create what they call a virtual retirement community,” Jaclin said, “but no one is doing complete care like this.”

As JFCS gears up for the initiative, Jaclin is refining the list of services to be offered and vetting vendors who wish to be included on the preferred provider list. She is also coordinating the development of a Web site for the new program, planning community information sessions on the concierge service, and writing applications for grants.

“The great thing about JFCS is that we have a lot of connections, and we have counselors here,” she said. “It’s really just figuring it out in terms of what we want to offer. We hope this will be a model for other Jewish family service agencies around the country.”

Jaclin said she welcomes the new challenge both personally and professionally. “I’m excited about it. I think it’s great,” she said. “It combines all aspects of community social work. I had wanted to continue to work in the Jewish community. To continue working with the community from a different angle is really exciting.”

Julie Feibush, JFCS coordinator of senior services, said she expects the new program to be an excellent complement to the services for seniors already offered by the agency. She pointed to the NORC — Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities — program now serving seniors who are aging in place in the Twin Rivers section of East Windsor, the Kosher Cafe, the Golden Age Club, and Club Europa for Holocaust survivors, among others.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Feibush said. “I think it’s the perfect demographic here. It’s going to be great for the people in Princeton and, as it expands, in other parts of Mercer County. And it’s also going to be great for my seniors because of the growing of the program and the sharing of resources. We also want to develop a concierge program in East Windsor.”

JFCS executive director Linda Meisel also expressed enthusiasm for the new concierge service.

“It’s so unique,” Meisel said. “I love new challenges. I love new opportunities. And I love being given the opportunity to begin something on the cutting edge of senior services.”

For information, contact Jaclin or at 609-987-8100.