Email this pageDivision of Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities
Program in Aging and Developmental Disabilities
Finger Lakes Geriatric Education Center
2007-2010
The mission of the Finger Lakes Geriatric Education Center of Upstate New York (FLGEC-UNY) is to improve the health care delivered to older adults through enhanced geriatric education of health and allied health professionals. The members of this consortium include public and private health training programs in upstate New York anchored by:
- The University of Rochester (UR – allopathic medicine),
- Ithaca College (IC – allied health professions),
- The State University of New York at Brockport (SUNY Brockport – social work),
- New York Chiropractic College (NYCC – chiropractic medicine), and
- The State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica (SUNY-IT – nursing).
The consortium approach capitalizes on the unique resources of the partnering institutions and acknowledges that a credible regional geriatric education effort surpasses the capability of any single institution. Specifically, the consortium structure brings together the University of Rochester, with its strengths in geriatric medicine, emergency care, and developmental disabilities, Ithaca College, with its resources in rural aging and allied health, SUNY-Brockport, a nationally unique collaborative program in social work, SUNY-IT, a regional center for nurse training at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and NYCC, the region’s chiropractic training institution.
The FLGEC-UNY will focus on competency building in geriatrics through curriculum development, linkage building, and education of health professionals and faculty. Responding to community needs, seven new and expanded geriatric education products will target:
- interdisciplinary training,
- emergency medical service,
- practitioners serving older adults with developmental disabilities,
- rural aging practitioners,
- nursing,
- social work, and
- chiropractic education.
Despite academic and community based resources in the Upstate region, the need for geriatric continuing education remains strong. This is due, in large part, to the geography of the region, steady growth in the number of older adults, and the diversity of the urban and rural populations served. The FLGEC-UNY has responded to these needs since 1997 and will extend the geriatric education network to encompass neighbors in the Mohawk Valley, the Adirondacks, and the Southern Tier over the next three years. The overwhelming response to the FLGEC-UNY’s offerings over the last ten years speaks to the region’s needs and the consortium’s commitment to enhancing care of older adults.
The Program in Aging and Developmental Disabilities (PADD) will support the mission of the FLGEC-UNY by providing area service providers with hands-on approaches in education and training on older individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). These initiatives will target all members of the interdisciplinary I/DD treatment team and offer interactive, experiential, and observational learning experiences:
Fellowship in Aging and I/DD
The goal of this course is to allow thirty (ten per year) highly motivated participants from regional I/DD service agencies to explore geriatric care in I/DD in a semi-structured format.This design will enable them to learn and observe existing best-practices as well as research a topic of interest to them in their particular role/work setting. Part One will allow fellows to participate in formal training sessions, clinical assignments, and visits to assessment clinics. In Part Two, each fellow will select a project to complete that will include the development of a training curriculum on an aging topic of interest and delivery of the specific training.
Intensive 18-hour Course for Clinicians in Assessment and Preventive Care
Thirty clinician participants (e.g.: nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, behavior specialists) will be selected per course.The 18-hour course will be held twice each year. Lectures using research literature and case-studies will be presented by Dr. Henderson, Dr. Bishop and Ms. Robinson. On-site and video-conference technology will be used for surrounding rural areas.The goal in this course will be to provide a wide breadth of material on geriatric care and I/DD.
Course on Observation, Reporting and Recording Skills for Direct Care Staff
The medical complexity of older persons with I/DD combined with communication deficits, the presence of undiagnosed autism or psychiatric disorders, and/or a history of institutionalization provide medical and cultural obstacles for clinicians providing off-site coverage in group homes, day habilitation, or vocational settings. Direct care staff persons typically receive an agency-designed orientation course on I/DD in which observational and team communication skills are not emphasized. As direct care staff persons are “front-line” observers and reporters, the development of observational and objective reporting and recording skills are essential and can result in timely responses to health care problems.
Thirty direct care staff will participate in each two-day course. A variety of adult learning techniques such as brief and mutually reinforcing lectures, narrative, case material, and humor, will be used to present topics such as observation overview, vital signs, overview to reporting and recording, and observations indicative of organ system disorders and cultural preferences. Participating agency nurses will supplement the lecture material by conducting small group activity stations with role-playing based on hypothetical cases that will require participants to demonstrate their new skills.
More Information
For more information, call 585-275-6604 or email Cathy Imhof at: cathy_imhof@urmc.rochester.edu
PADD
Developmental Disabilities
