UW Launches State's First Geriatric Education Center |
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Oct. 15, 2007 -- Will your social worker be properly trained to help guide you through your later years?
Will your physicians have the knowledge in geriatrics to adequately care for you?
Will your pharmacist be trained in geropharmacy?
The University of Wyoming is taking the first steps to ensure you can answer ‘yes' to each of those questions.
The UW College of Health Sciences recently received a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration (HRSA) to establish and operate the first Wyoming Geriatric Education Center (WyGEC). The grant was awarded to the School of Pharmacy (SOP), but was a collaborative effort of faculty from several departments.
The purpose of the center is to provide high-quality geriatric education programs for UW students and health professionals across the state.
"This is very much needed in our state," says Jeanine Cox, executive director of Young At Heart Senior Center in Rock Springs. "We need to look to the future, plan for the future and make some goals for the future.
"This education center is one of the major components for the future of geriatric health in the state. I applaud the University of Wyoming for stepping up to meet this critical need, and I just really would like to see our state get behind this center."
Deborah Fleming, a clinical professor for medical education and public health at UW, serves as director and principal investigator of the center. She will coordinate the efforts of members from several departments of the university -- including the SOP, the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing, the divisions of kinesiology and health, communication disorders and social work, the Center for Rural Health Research and Education, the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND) and residency programs in Casper and Cheyenne -- to establish a solid foundation of interdisciplinary training.
The WyGEC, which is staffed initially with part-time workers and a graduate student assistant, will receive $216,000 per year from HRSA through September 2010. The center operates from an office inside the Health Sciences Center.
"Wyoming is getting older and we really felt that our university should have a response to that changing demographic " says Fleming, who was involved in Wyoming's three tries to gain federal funding for the WyGEC. "We see this as just a start, though. Our hope is to eventually have a strong program in gerontology and geriatric education for health professions. That's our vision."
She adds, "We think the potential is huge for what we can do here."
Through interdisciplinary training, the WyGEC will:
-- Strengthen UW curricula in geriatrics;
-- Present geriatric information for dissemination across the state;
-- Improve faculty training in core geriatric topics;
-- Support the continuing education of health professionals across the state with an Internet-based resource center and distance education programs, and;
-- Provide clinical training sites.
There is a great need for stronger geriatric education and care in Wyoming, Fleming says.
The Wyoming Department of Health Aging Division predicts that the population of residents age 65 and older will grow from 11.7 percent today to 15.2 percent by 2014. And by 2020, the AARP projects Wyoming will have the highest proportion of people ages 65-74 in the United States.
"The population is aging at a pretty fast pace and as the population ages, there are more needs," says Beverly J. Morrow, administrator of the Wyoming Department of Health's Aging Division. "We need to ask ourselves, ‘If we're going to have an aging population, how do we maintain or improve the quality of life for those people&?rsquo;
"The answer is to raise awareness of the issues, generate the interest of potential employees and provide educational resources. That's what the creation of the WyGEC will do," she adds.
"I see this education center touching almost everybody in the state," Cox says.
Montana and Nebraska are the only bordering states with similar HRSA-funded centers.
In the 1990s, the UW Residency Program in Casper twice attempted to gain funding for a geriatric education center. But HRSA denied both applications and required that the university operate a center from its main campus.
In 2005, Fleming joined the UW faculty, determined to see the vision become reality.
"The third time was the charm," says Fleming with a smile.
For more information on the WyGEC, contact Fleming at (307) 766-2719 or e-mail dfleming@uwyo.edu.
Posted on Monday, October 15, 2007
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