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Nova Southeastern University Receives a $426,000 Federal Grant to Create a Geriatric Education Center

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 September 2007, 15:00 CDT

Nova Southeastern University (NSU) announced Wednesday it received a $426,000 federal grant to create a Geriatric Education Center (GEC) to educate South Florida health care professionals and students on the interdisciplinary health care needs of the elderly.

The interdisciplinary grant was awarded to NSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Another $893,000 will be provided to the GEC pending the availability of federal funds in the next two years.

NSU's center will be called The Florida Coastal Geriatric Resources, Education and Training Geriatric Education Center (GREAT GEC). It will improve the training of health care professionals in geriatrics and eldercare, instruct NSU faculty who teach geriatrics and provide health care students with clinical geriatrics training in nursing homes, and acute-care hospitals, ambulatory care centers and senior centers and retirement communities.

"This grant is huge for NSU and South Florida because there aren't too many geriatric education centers in the region and throughout the country," said Naushira Pandya, M.D., CMD, NSU associate professor and chair of the College of Osteopathic Medicine's Department of Geriatrics. "Florida has one of the largest populations of older people in the country. The percentage of Floridians age 65 and older is the highest in the nation."

Pandya, who will serve as NSU's GREAT GEC's project director, said the center will provide critical training and education and increase interdisciplinary collaboration to better serve the elderly.

"As Americans continue to age, the percentage of total time provided by physicians for patient care could increase to 39 percent nationally by 2020," she said.

Cecilia Rokusek, Ed.D., R.D., NSU's GEC's executive director, said the University is looking to get the center up and running this fall.

"NSU is striving to make the Sunshine State a better place for older Americans to live and age gracefully," Rokusek said. "Educating our health professionals to better understand the health care needs of the elderly can vastly improve their lives."

NSU is also partnering with the Palm Beach County Health Department, Pembroke Pines Southwest Focal Point Senior Center and West Palm Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center on this project.

About Nova Southeastern University: Situated on 300 beautiful acres in Davie, Florida, Nova Southeastern University is a dynamic fully accredited institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs of distinction from preschool through the professional and doctoral levels. NSU has more than 26,000 students and is the sixth largest not-for-profit independent institution nationally. The university awards associate's, bachelor's, master's, specialist, doctoral, and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields, including business, counseling, computer and information sciences, education, medicine, optometry, pharmacy, dentistry, various health professions, law, marine sciences, early childhood, psychology and other social sciences. For more information visit www.nova.edu.

Source: Business Wire

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