The Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP), a five-year grant USI received from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), has pivoted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to continue to maximize patient and family engagement and integrate geriatrics into primary care.
In 2019, USI’s College of Nursing and Health Professions received the $3.7 million grant to improve care of older adults in southwestern Indiana. In the first year, USI has been working with Deaconess Health System and two Area Agencies on Aging (AAA – SWIRCA & More and Generations) to complete several of the grant’s objectives, including embedding an AAA care coordinator at a primary care clinic, community-based programming on dementia and mobility, dissemination of an Advance Care Planning (ACP) program and the development of Interprofessional Geriatric Assessment Clinic with the Deaconess Family Medicine Residency Program.
GWEP’s primary investigator, Dr. Katie Ehlman, Professor of Gerontology, said several grant areas have been impacted due to the pandemic, but her team and community partners are collaborating to deliver outcomes in response to the changing environment.
Online Course Modules: For example, shortly after all University classes were moved to online, the GWEP team quickly developed a six-hour ACP module and a three-hour module on telehealth for USI courses, internships and clinicals to assist faculty members with relevant healthcare content for their online courses.
Online PAC Course with Teepa Snow: In another example, a two-day in-person dementia certification course with Teepa Snow and her Positive Approach® to Care (PAC) team, scheduled to take place in Evansville on March 31 and April 1, was successfully moved to a “live online” format via Zoom. One participant commented to Snow, “Even though we are all practicing social distancing, your enthusiasm is contagious.”
Check-in Phone Calls to Older Adults: The AAA care coordinator, who had just started receiving patient referrals at the Deaconess Clinic downtown Evansville location in Fall 2019, is now working from home and making phone calls to check in on older adults’ health and wellness and also combat their feelings of isolation during the pandemic using the social determinants of health to guide the conversations.
“These are just a few of the areas where we have had to make adjustments,” said Ehlman. “Our team continues to assess the environment to identify other areas to restructure and pivot. Now more than ever, we need to continue to provide services to older adults and their caregivers in our communities.”
