Statewide geriatric center for education established
Improving the quality of life for older South Carolinians is the aim of a project which just received $1.25 million federal funding.The five-year U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant to the College of Health Professions will establish the South Carolina Geriatric Education Center.
Dr.
Esther M. Forti
The center, under the direction of Esther M. Forti, Ph.D., R.N., a
rural health specialist and assistant professor at MUSC, will develop,
expand and sustain collaborative efforts across the state to provide educational
and training programs in geriatrics and gerontology for faculty, students
and practicing health and social services providers.
To achieve this, the center has established formal collaborations with various colleges at MUSC, the South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium, the University of South Carolina, Coastal Carolina University, and South Carolina State University.
“South Carolina must train its health professionals in geriatrics in order to meet the increasing needs of the state’s growing elderly population,” said MUSC President Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D. “The South Carolina Geriatric Education Center will partner universities with communities so that education and training in aging issues can take place at the grass roots level across the state. This will become a model for geriatric training in South Carolina as well as for the nation.”
South Carolina is a popular retirement state with 56 percent of the population over 50 years of age. The state is ranked 8th in the nation in terms of growth of the elderly population 65 and older, 7th in the proportion of elders living in poverty; 1st in stroke mortality, and 3rd in diabetes mellitus morbidity and mortality. The average life expectancy in South Carolina is ranked 49th in the United States. Urban and rural poverty are especially widespread among ethnic minorities, who comprise more than one-third of the state’s population.
The current status of geriatric and gerontological education and training among aging networks across South Carolina is somewhat fragmented with little or no linkages among academic institutions and community agencies, according to Forti.
The South Carolina Geriatric Education Center will be a first statewide effort to establish an aging network collaborative among universities, and state and community agencies and organizations to prepare health and social services providers with education and training to meet the needs of older South Carolinians.
The center's program will focus on the following topical areas: elder abuse, depression, medication management and drug interactions, cultural competency, end-of-life ethical and legal considerations, pain management, health promotion and disease management, interdisciplinary team building among aging networks, case management, and use of the Internet for aging resources.
Given the rural nature of the state, the preferred methods of delivery include: distance and self-directed web-based educational offerings and conferences, on-site and regional one-half day workshops, lunch lecture series for faculty and medical residents, geriatric-focused educational sessions at annual conferences that “meet people where they are,” and regional one-day seminars and forums. Plans are to develop a web page that will connect providers with aging information and resources across the nation. Additionally, a web-based certificate program will be available with multiple university participation.
Community-academic partners participating in the new center include the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Senior Services, the South Carolina Primary Health Care Association and its community health center members, the Department of Social Services-Adult Protective Services, the South Carolina Center for Gerontology, community mental health centers, the state Office of Rural Health, Area Agencies on Aging, the state Office of Minority Health, Alzheimer’s Association chapters, Councils on Aging, the South Carolina Alzheimer’s Resource Coordination Center, and the South Carolina DHEC-Diabetes Control Program.
Other universities and community agencies in South Carolina have expressed interest in participating in the project. Consortia members and participating organizations will have representation on the statewide Geriatric Education Advisory Council which will provide recommendations to the center.
The South Carolina Geriatric Education Center will be located in the MUSC College of Health Professions, Office of Research, located at Harborview Office Tower.
For more information, call 843-792-2419.
Esther M. Forti, Ph.D., RN, director of Geriatric Education Center
“As we experience an increase in our older adult population, this
is a golden opportunity to prepare our health and social services providers
with training and education to enhance the quality of life of older South
Carolinians.”
—Dr. Esther Forti
Esther
M. Forti, Ph.D., R.N., was born and raised in a small town in Pennsylvania.
She received her Doctor of Philosophy degree from The Pennsylvania State
University in 1993. She relocated to South Carolina in 1996, bringing
with her an expertise in rural and community research, workforce issues,
and program evaluation.
She has served on a study section for HRSA’s federal Office of Rural Health Policy for their Rural Outreach Program grant for three years; has served as an invited participant in national working conferences on research, practice, and policy for rural, health disparities, women’s health, and allied health. She currently serves as an elected representative for the research and education constituency group of the National Rural Health Association. Locally, she is an active member of the SC Rural Health Association and consults with many community and rural health centers in SC on grant writing, program development, and strategic planning.
In the aging field, Forti has received funding for three years from the SCDHHS to MUSC for its Healthy South Carolina Initiative to develop and implement a community program called, “A Rural, Minority Geriatric Care Management Model” in three SC rural communities, Beaufort, Jasper, and Hampton counties. Recently, the Duke Endowment awarded her funds to extend and expand the geriatric program for an additional two years. This geriatric program won the 2000 Governor’s Health Promotion of Older South Carolinians Award and an abstract has been requested to be included in HRSA’s Models That Work Compendium. As first author, Forti completed a nationally peer-reviewed policy issue paper entitled, “Long-Term Care in Rural America.”
Danielle Ripich, Ph.D., co-director of Geriatric Education Center
“Each collaborating organization will bring
unique strengths, expertise, and established educational programs to the
center. Our activities will promote the values of diversity and cultural
competency, professional ethics, lifelong learning, and outreach to rural
and medically underserved communities.”
—Dr. Danielle Ripich
Danielle
Ripich, Ph.D., is the dean of the College of Health Professions,
and professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at MUSC. She
received her Ph.D. from Kent State University in 1982.
Ripich has received awards and honors for outstanding contributions of the profession from both the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and The Council of Graduate Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders, and is a fellow of the ASHA. Her FOCUSED Program, for training caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), was awarded the Best Clinical Practice for 1996 from the American Society on Aging.
Her research in communication problems of persons with Alzheimer Disease and their caregivers has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Aging for the past 13 years.
She has published numerous articles and three edited books, and, in 1994, served as co-chair of NIH’s working group on Research Training needs in Communication Sciences and Disorders sponsored by the National Institute of Deafness and Communicative Disorders.
Her most recent work has focused on gender and race variation in language and Alzheimer’s disease, and informed consent with cognitively impaired elderly.
Kathy Miles, program coordinator for Geriatric Education Center
“This collaborative initiative will better prepare South Carolina
to meet the increasing needs of its older adults. The corner stones of
the center will be to lead, to teach, and to care.”
—Kathy Miles
Kathy
Miles has been developing new services for older adults for
more than 24 years. She received her undergraduate degree from East Carolina
University and immediately began working with older adults at a state facility
for the developmentally disabled in North Carolina.
She moved to Columbia where she worked for 13 years at Lutheran Homes of South Carolina, implementing and directing a new adult day services treatment center. While at Lutheran Homes, Miles also obtained her Nursing Home Administrator's License.
In 1990, Miles was hired by the Governor’s Office Division on Aging to expand programs for persons with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. In that position, she authored and managed a multi-million dollar grant project to increase Alzheimer’s services throughout the state, assisted in doubling the number of licensed adult day centers, and spearheaded the development of the Governor’s Alzheimer’s Resource Coordination Center.
Additionally, she worked with a number of organizations, foundations, and state agencies to obtain more than $8 million in new service funds for older South Carolinians.
Miles was recruited by MUSC in 1995 to assist in the development of
the university’s Alzheimer’s Research and Clinical Programs.