NEWS

Program on Aging receives grant to help train providers to care for older population

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine’s Program on Aging recently received a five-year, $2 million grant to help train health professionals to address the challenges of a rapidly aging North Carolina population.

The Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Health Professions grant goes toward renewal of the Program on Aging’s Carolina Geriatric Education Center, formerly known as the Geriatric Education Training Alliance.

With an emphasis on rural and underserved communities, the center works with North Carolina’s health-care and human-service providers to develop effective approaches to the care of older populations. The grant allows the center to develop and test geriatrics curricula, develop new training sites across the state, raise student awareness and train health professionals in geriatrics practice and teaching.

"The challenges that North Carolina faces as a result of the enormous population growth of the aging population are complicated by poverty and persistent minority health disparities, as well as the rural character of the state," said Dr. Jan Busby-Whitehead, director of the center and the Program on Aging.

"I am confident that the efforts of the CGEC will build capacity throughout the state for the rapid dissemination of geriatric knowledge and ideas, particularly in rural and underserved communities."

The center will work with university and community partners to formulate and implement curricula that address health disparities and disease prevention.

"Regional leadership development and interdisciplinary collaboration are cornerstones of the initiative," said Rebecca Hunter, center co-director. "Moreover, the lessons we learn in North Carolina and the educational products we develop will be distributed nationally, providing useful guides to others, especially those serving rural communities."

With leadership from the Program on Aging, the Carolina Geriatric Education Center is a collaborative effort of UNC, the Rural Health Group Inc. and the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers, specifically Mountain AHEC, Charlotte AHEC, Wake AHEC and Eastern AHEC. The mission of North Carolina AHEC, which operates under the leadership of the School of Medicine, is to meet the state’s health and health workforce needs by providing educational programs in partnership with academic institutions, agencies and other organizations committed to improving the health of the state’s citizens.

The center also features involvement from the UNC schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, social work and public health and Institute on Aging.

Busby-Whitehead recently was chosen as one of six new geriatric program leaders nationwide to participate in the Hartford Leadership Scholars Program, an experience she said would inform her work with the center’s initiatives.

The John A. Hartford Foundation Inc. provided a $1.8 million grant to fund the Hartford Leadership Program, a three-year initiative that will train new geriatric program directors and enhance leadership skills for current directors.

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Program on Aging contact: Elizabeth Thomas, (919) 966-6974