Contact: Peggy Malikowski, School of Nursing, 612-625-2496 or malik025@umn.edu
University of Minnesota School of Nursing Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence announces 2008-2009 Scholars
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (Oct. 17, 2008) — With the population of adults age 65 and older expected to grow by 40 percent between 2010 and 2020 in Minnesota alone, and an estimated need for 800,000 additional nurses nationwide by 2020, the University of Minnesota School of Nursing is expanding their role of preparing students and faculty to address emerging issues in geriatric care. Through support from the John A. Hartford Foundation, the School of Nursing is providing scholarships to students who focus their graduate studies on the nursing care of older adults and who commit to engage in an academic career focused on teaching geriatric nursing. The scholarship provides Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) and research-focused doctoral students with support for education-related expenses.
The School of Nursing has selected its second group of Minnesota Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence (MnHCGNE) scholarship recipients. The 2008 Hartford Scholars are Mary Gatzke, Watertown, Wis., Sara McCumber, Superior, Wis., Jack Rydell, Fargo, N.D., Karin Schurrer-Erickson, Minneapolis, Minn., and Audrey Weymiller, Rochester, Minn. The students’ research interests include chronic care of the elderly, rural health issues commonly seen in the elderly population, exercise for elderly persons with diabetes, end-of-life care, and prevention of osteoporosis.
“The Hartford Scholars have been a potent force in health care,” said Professor Ruth Lindquist, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., A.C.N.S.-B.C., director of the Hartford Scholars program. “They generate significant positive changes in the practice of health care and in services to the elderly.”
Previous scholars have undertaken projects such as fall prevention in acute care environments by eliminating the use of drugs that affect balance and judgment and how to better understand depression following stroke.
“These are problems that cost our health care system and our society tremendously, but it does not escape the scholars that many of the human and financial costs incurred are preventable with programs and strategies to eliminate risk factors, improve communication, or improve preventive care,” Lindquist said.
The MnHCGNE was established at the University of Minnesota in 2007 after the School of Nursing was awarded a $1 million grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation and a $500,000 matching award from the University of Minnesota. The center aims to address the Upper Midwest's critical need for nurses with expertise in caring for older adults by developing quality faculty with expertise in gerontological nursing.
Founded in 1929, the John A. Hartford Foundation is a committed champion of training, research and service system innovations that promote the health and independence of America's older adults. Through its grantmaking, the Foundation seeks to strengthen the nation's capacity to provide effective, affordable care to this rapidly increasing older population by educating aging-prepared health professionals (physicians, nurses, social workers), and developing innovations that improve and better integrate health and supportive services. The Foundation was established by John A. Hartford. Mr. Hartford and his brother, George L. Hartford, both former chief executives of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, left the bulk of their estates to the Foundation upon their deaths in the 1950s. Additional information about the Foundation and it programs is available at www.jhartfound.org.
The University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing, ranked among the nation’s top nursing schools, is a leader in improving health care through research, education, and service. Its nationally and world-renowned scientists discover practical health care treatments and solutions people can use today to improve their daily lives. The oldest continuing university-based school of nursing in the nation, it now has a combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment of approximately 850 students. The school educates 55 percent of the faculty in Minnesota’s public and private nursing schools, advanced practice nurses, and nurses who can assume leadership positions.The School of Nursing is part of the Academic Health Center, one of the most comprehensive facilities for health professionals in the nation, fostering interdisciplinary study, research, and education. For additional information on the University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing, go to www.nursing.umn.edu.
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