UW’s Wyoming Center on Aging Receives $5M Grant to Address Needs of Older Adults

The University of Wyoming Department of Psychology’s Wyoming Center on Aging (WyCOA) has been awarded a $5 million grant to enhance partnerships to expand and strengthen geriatrics education for the health care workforce and to expand resources for the state’s older adults and caregivers.

The Health Resources and Services Administration awarded funding through the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP). The five-year grant is led by WyCOA Director Christine McKibbin and Associate Director Catherine Carrico, both in the Department of Psychology in UW’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The GWEP educates and trains the health care workforce and family caregivers to care for older adults by collaborating with community partners.

“We are grateful to have partners dedicated to serving those with the highest needs, including tribal elders and older adults in rural and underserved areas,” McKibbin says. “This unique partnership will strengthen the geriatrics workforce and address a common goal of maximizing health outcomes of older adults.”

Ivinson Medical Group, UW’s Division of Graduate Medical Education, Wind River Family and Community Health Care, Eastern Shoshone Tribal Health, Morning Star Care Center in Fort Washakie, the UW School of Nursing, the Central Wyoming College Nursing Program and the Wyoming Aging and Disability Resource Center are GWEP partners.

The Wyoming GWEP will educate and train the primary care and geriatrics workforces and other appropriate specialties to provide age-friendly and dementia-friendly care for older adults.

“Age-friendly health care is a growing movement that helps to provide the best care possible by focusing on what matters to older adults; reducing potential harms that older adults face more than others; and ensuring that older adults and caregivers are engaged in and satisfied with their care,” Carrico says.

The Wyoming Department of Health Aging Division predicts that, from 2016 to 2030, the number of Wyoming citizens aged 65 or older is expected to grow from approximately 90,000 to 138,000 -- a 56 percent increase. Wyoming’s entire population is expected to increase by less than 12 percent during that time, with most of the growth coming from an older adult population.

“Programs like the GWEP allow Wyoming to use evidence-based and innovative strategies to ready its workforce to meet the needs of our growing aging population,” McKibbin says.

To learn more about the GWEP partnership and the work of WyCOA, visit www.uwyo.edu/wycoa.

About the University of Wyoming’s Wyoming Center on Aging

WyCOA values older adults and works every day to support these neighbors, friends and family. Through a broad range of programs and resources, the team of professionals at WyCOA is working to optimize the health and well-being of Wyoming’s older residents through innovative collaborations around chronic disease management, dementia support, and family and health care provider education.

WyCOA works collaboratively with the aging network across the state to respond to the needs of older Wyoming residents while honoring the legacy of the state’s elders.

About the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program

The GWEP improves health outcomes for older adults by developing a health care workforce that maximizes patient and family engagement and by integrating geriatrics with primary care. The goals of this program are to educate and train the primary care and geriatrics workforces to care for older adults in integrated geriatrics and primary care models; and partner with community-based organizations to address gaps in health care for older adults, promote age-friendly health systems and dementia-friendly communities, and address the social determinants of health.

GWEP awardees have the flexibility to identify education and training needs unique to their own communities. The GWEP and its partners include schools of medicine, schools of nursing, primary care practices, community-based organizations, clinical settings, academic programs, long-term care centers and emergency departments.