News Release

The New York City Council awards $750,000 to the Consortium of New York Geriatric Education Centers & The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing

Grant and Award Announcement

New York University Division of Nursing

The City Council has awarded $750,000 to the Consortium of New York Geriatric Education Centers (CNYGEC) and the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, both located at the Division of Nursing at NYU. The City Council has generously bestowed this money because it recognizes the need for better trained professionals to handle an increasingly older New York City population.

The grant funds will be allocated over a three-year period and will support a project entitled Training Nurses for Better Care of Older Adults in New York City. The program will provide geriatric training to a variety of health care professionals in all five boroughs and will be administered by New York City Department of Aging.

"The grant to the Geriatric Programs at the Division of Nursing at NYU is one of a number of new initiatives the City Council has funded in the past several years designed to improve the quality of life of New York's senior citizens. Committee on Aging Chair Julia Harrison and I are very pleased to have had a role in making this vital program to train and sensitize health care staff to the special needs of older New Yorkers a reality," said Council Speaker Peter Vallone. "We look forward to a long relationship with the New York University geriatric education program, which has a well-earned reputation as a leader in its field."

"As our older population is rapidly increasing in size, most especially adults over 85, we desperately need to train the medical workforce to serve the needs of this fast growing segment of our city," said Terry Fulmer, RN, PhD,FAAN, director of the CNYGEC. "This grant will enable us to bring cutting-edge training in geriatrics to all 81 hospitals and 179 nursing homes in NYC."

"All health professionals need to be adequately trained but it is the nurses who provide the majority of care to older adults," said Mathy Mezey, director of the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing. "Therefore, the CNYGEC and the Hartford Institute will focus on the nurse's pivotal role in the delivery of high quality care to older adults."

In addition to the increasing older population in all New York City boroughs, there are significant racial and ethnic shifts and this program will equip health professionals with the knowledge to be more culturally sensitive to a growing number of ethnically diverse people.

Training Nurses for Better Care of Older Adults Program will be comprised of two components. The first part includes providing nurses and other health care providers training through a 40 hour Geriatric Scholar Certificate Program. Registrants will complete 3 core days of training and 2 elective days and choose their training topics from a broad array of specialty electives.

The second part of the program will provide a train-the-trainer program to help staff development educators provide necessary best practice information in care for older adults to the staff of hospitals and nursing homes in New York City.

###

For more information on the CNYGEC, contact Andrea Sherman, Project Director at 212-998-9016 or Elaine Gould at the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at 212-998-5568.

The Consortium of New York Geriatric Education Centers (CNYGECs) brings together the combined resources of New York University, Columbia University, Mamonides Medical Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, and the Brookdale Center on Aging of Hunter College. The mission of the CNYGEC is to improve and expand geriatric health care by providing interdisciplinary, cutting-edge knowledge and training concerning geriatrics and gerontology in New York State. The programs of the CNYGEC are designed to prepare health care professionals to work in increasingly diverse and community-based settings. The CNYGEC provides a 40 hour certificate program consisting of a core curriculum and elective choices.

The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing (Institute) is the only nurse-led institute in the country to set a national agenda to shape the quality of care for older Americans by promoting the highest level of competency in the nurses who deliver that care. The Institute identifies and develops best practices in nursing care for older adults and practicing professional nurse as well as every nursing student. Its training initiatives cluster in education, practice, research, and policy and consumer education.



Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.