News Release

October 18, 2010

Carolina Geriatric Education Center Continued With 5-Year Grant

The federal Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, has funded the Carolina Geriatric Education Center (CGEC) to continue providing geriatrics education and training for five more years.

The consortium is led by UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine's Center for Aging and Health (CAH), and project director Jan Busby-Whitehead, MD, Chief, Division of Geriatrics and Director of CAH and UNC Institute on Aging Associate Director for Clinical Affairs.

Additional consortium members include: the Institute on Aging; NC Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program and eight regional AHEC partners (Area L, Charlotte, Eastern, Greensboro, Mountain, Northwest, Southern Regional and Wake); and the UNC Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Social Work, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Public Health.

The CGEC's mission is to improve the health of North Carolina's older adults by providing evidence-based and culturally competent geriatrics education and training, enabling health professionals to better serve the state's increasingly diverse older adult populations. CGEC goals include improving health care practice, serving rural and clinically underserved areas of North Carolina, and addressing healthcare disparities.

Continuing education activities train health professionals of all levels in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, public health, dentistry, allied health, and health administration, among others. Key initiatives include: comprehensive training and evaluation in the areas of evidence-based falls prevention, practitioner core competencies in geriatrics and interdisciplinary practice, health literacy and practice improvement, and mental health.

Throughout the five-year grant, the CGEC will develop, test, refine and disseminate training materials and models locally, regionally and nationally, fostering excellence in geriatrics practice and teaching.