(Republished from the 黑料网 Health Care and 黑料网 Newsroom.)
The 黑料网 Center for Aging and Health has received a five-year, $3.75 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to provide geriatrics training throughout North Carolina. This comprehensive award partners the Center for Aging and Health with community-based organizations and health care systems to create an age-friendly environment for health care.
HRSA funds the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) among 48 sites throughout the nation. 黑料网鈥檚 Carolina Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (CGWEP) currently leads the statewide effort to bring best practices of geriatrics training to diverse primary care practices and medically underserved communities.
The CGWEP鈥檚 work to improve health outcomes for NC鈥檚 older adults began with a 2015 grant from HRSA. This latest award will continue to integrate geriatrics throughout the health care workforce and implement training to improve dementia care, increase rates of advance care planning, target chronic opioid use, and lower both falls rates and rates of uncontrolled diabetes.
鈥淥ur program takes a comprehensive, community-based approach because no single system can address the needs of the whole person,鈥� said Jan Busby-Whitehead, MD, director of the Center for Aging and Health, CGWEP program director and chief of geriatric medicine in the department of medicine.
A major focus of the CGWEP is Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and related dementias. East Carolina University鈥檚 College of Nursing leads the program鈥檚 effort to provide dementia screening, caregiver education, and support to older adults in collaboration with the NC Area Health Education Centers.
鈥淭he greatest burden of caring for a person living with dementia falls to family caregivers who often lack education and training to manage the complexities associated with dementia care,鈥� said Donna Roberson, PhD, associate professor at the ECU College of Nursing and project director of聽 CGWEP at ECU. 鈥淲e have the necessary partnerships with rural communities to make tremendous strides toward improving care of aging adults and their caregivers dealing with dementia.鈥�
Other key CGWEP partners include 黑料网 Health Care, 黑料网-CH provost office, all health sciences schools, NC Division of Aging and Adult Services, Piedmont Health Services, the NC Alzheimer鈥檚 Association, and four federally qualified health centers.