NSU’s Florida Coastal Geriatric Resource, Education and Training Center has received a five-year $2.1 million grant to educate and train students in geriatric care.
According to Cecilia Rokusek, executive director of the center, Florida’s population of people 65 and older is 18 percent — higher than any other state.
By 2030, she said, people aged 65 or older will outnumber children aged five and under for the first time in American history and the population of people 80 and older will increase 233 percent between 2008 and 2040.
However, according to Michelle Gagnon-Blodgett, coordinator of geriatric clinical services at GEC, while the geriatric population is rising, the number of professionals in the field is not.
“We are probably meeting about one tenth of the need,” Gag
non-Blodgett said. “What underscores a lot of that is not giving due attention to aging and aging needs.”
Another issue hindering growth and participation in the field is caused by the changing requirements of the patients. Gagnon-Blodgett, said that aging baby boomers, who are staying active, having longer and healthier retirements and have financial vigor, are changing the dynamics of the geriatric field.
Rokusek agrees. “We have two problems,” she said. “There are not enough professionals and we have a new type of again population that we are not prepared to deal with in an appropriate fashion.”
The grant will address these issues by providing the proper resources to instruct NSU geriatrics faculty and adequate training oppor-tunities for students entering the field.
The process has already begun. Rokusek said that from October 2007 to April 2010, the center has trained 4,888 students and 8,912 faculty.
The center, one of 46 geriatric education centers in the U.S., works with partner hospitals in Florida to give students geriatric clinical experience. It also hosts an annual national symposium, conducts re-search and hosts lectures for faculty and medical students. Faculty may also use an online interdisciplinary curriculum to incorporate geriatric education into their classes.
Debra Stern, associate professor of physical therapy, said that the center has made an impact on her students.
“We actually have students that have a desire to go into geriatrics,” she said. “Some even request geriatric internships. We did not see that before.”
Jacquelyn Browne, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., program professor of gerontology initiatives, human ser-
vices unit, division of applied interdisciplinary studies, said that NSU is at the forefront of an emerging field that needs a lot of attention.
“It contributes to knowing that you are a part of an institution of excellence,” she said.
