October 20, 2009
Media Contact:
Cesar Ayala
Public Affairs Specialist
The University of Texas at El Paso
915.747.5896 / 915.539.8010
UTEP Grant Improves Care of Older Population
A new initiative at The University of Texas at El Paso will help address the needs of the region’s growing geriatric population.
A 2008 economic and demographic study of El Paso County by The Berry Group, an independent consultant, reports that the number of residents 65 and older will increase by more than 12 percent between 2008 and 2013. Almost 20 percent of the older residents have incomes below the poverty level, and nearly all of them have some degree of disability, according to the study.
To address the specific needs of an older population, the School of Nursing at UTEP established the Border Institute for Excellence in Gerontologic Care (BIEGC) with a $337,000 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration.
“Through this three-year grant, we will provide geriatric education to health care providers in the West and far West Texas region,” said Charon Pierson, Ph.D., project director and associate professor at the School of Nursing.
The BIEGC will develop new and unique learning experiences for students, advanced practice nurses and other health care providers to improve the care of older residents in West and far West Texas, particularly in rural areas. It will also provide ongoing continuing education for health care providers on specific topics relevant to the care of older adults.
“The older adult population is rapidly increasing and our health care providers will need to have access to information that will aid them in the treatment of the older adult population,” Pierson said. The majority of patients in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities, as well as patients cared for at home by home care agencies or day care providers, are older adults. The Institute will provide the staff of those organizations with an online resource center that will include gerontology best practices.
“The Institute has developed two advisory boards—one composed of faculty and another made up of community members—with expertise and, in particular, with a special interest in gerontology,” said Gia Heidarian, M.S.N., project manager and clinical instructor at the School of Nursing.
The faculty and community advisory boards bring together people who have worked in the field of gerontology and who are aware of the needs that the rapidly aging population faces. Working together, the two boards will determine how to best educate nurses and other providers who deal with older adults.
Faculty from the College of Health Sciences and staff from University College will help create and deliver the educational offerings.