UofL institute awarded $2.55 million to create Kentucky Rural & Underserved Geriatric Interprofessional Education Program
January 21, 2016LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Institute for Sustainable Health & Optimal Aging at the University of Louisville, now in just its 15th month of operation, has garnered a major grant to further efforts to bring health care to rural and medically underserved Kentuckians.
The Health Resources and Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $2.55 million to institute researchers to create the Kentucky Rural & Underserved Geriatric Interprofessional Education Program (KRUGIEP).
This three-year initiative will be headed by Dr. Anna Faul, executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Health & Optimal Aging at UofL, and will include a group of transdisciplinary faculty at UofL along with partnering organizations from six rural counties in Kentucky: Hart, Metcalfe, Barren, Bullitt, Henry and Shelby.
In the six counties, KRUGIEP addresses the following needs:
- The shortage of the geriatric and primary care work force
- The need to train health care providers that can deliver culturally appropriate services to Kentucky’s growing Hispanic population
- The need to decrease the chronic disease burden in rural Kentucky
- The lack of supportive environments to promote health, specifically for older rural populations
- The need for supportive education and resources in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD)