By Sean Olson, University Relations
Former UNCG nursing student Elizabeth Strong (left) works with a patient. (Photo by Daniel Smith, Creative Services, UNCG).
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded the UNCG nursing school a grant to train rural nursing personnel in elder care.
The School of Nursing has received a three-year, $518,400 grant to support the second phase of the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Project. The project aims to prepare nursing personnel around the state to work with and treat the increasingly larger elderly population in home care situations and healthcare facilities.
“We hope to really blanket the state of North Carolina and help nursing personnel learn about older adults,” said Dr. Beth Barba, a professor in the school who heads up the project. “We know nurses are doing a wonderful job, but we want to help them be even better.”
During the first phase of the project, nursing experts including Barba developed educational resources to train nurses in elder care, including materials so nurses could take the curriculum back to their hospitals and teach other nursing personnel. This first phase partnered with Alamance Regional Medical Center, Catawba Valley Medical Center and Moses Cone Health Care System.
The second phase will focus on using those teaching materials to train nurses in very rural and medically underserved areas of the state – typically areas that have hospitals with fewer than 100 beds, Barba said.
The second phase of the grant partners with the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers and will proceed in three stages, each covering a different AHEC region of the state and a total of 38 counties. The first stage will cover Edgecombe, Halifax, Nash, Northampton and Wilson counties.
For more information on the grant or on the School of Nursing, visit the web site or call (336) 334-5010.
