UNC receives $3.75 million HRSA grant to provide geriatrics training throughout North Carolina

The UNC School of Medicine's 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. UNC's 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's work to improve health outcomes for NC's 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.

Our program takes a comprehensive, community-based approach because no single system can address the needs of the whole person."

Jan Busby-Whitehead, MD, director of the Center for Aging and Health and CGWEP program director

A major focus of the CGWEP is Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. East Carolina University's College of Nursing leads the program's effort to provide dementia screening, caregiver education, and support to older adults in collaboration with the NC Area Health Education Centers.

"The 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," said Donna Roberson, PhD, associate professor at the ECU College of Nursing and project director of CGWEP at ECU. "We have the necessary partnerships with rural communities to make tremendous strides toward improving care of aging adults and their caregivers dealing with dementia."

Other key CGWEP partners include UNC Health Care, UNC-CH provost office, all health sciences schools, NC Division of Aging and Adult Services, Piedmont Health Services, the NC Alzheimer's Association, and four federally qualified health centers.