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32nd ANNUAL MEETING AND EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
'Outcomes of Gerontological and Geriatric Education' Indianapolis, Indiana - February 9 - 12, 2006
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Pacific Institute presents at the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) 32 ND Annual Meeting. The AGHE Annual Meeting and Educational Leadership Conference is the premier national forum for discussing ideas and issues in gerontological and geriatric education. Educators, clinicians, administrators, researchers, and students share their experiences, expertise, and innovations regarding teaching and learning about aging and older persons. The meeting provides an opportunity to network and discuss important issues related to faculty, program, and course development with other educators and students from across the nation and around the world.
The 2006 meeting in Indianapolis will be devoted to the theme of "Outcomes of Gerontological and Geriatric Education." With the ever-growing maturity of geriatric and gerontological education, as evidenced by such developments as new doctoral programs in gerontology, it is important to pause occasionally and assess the impact of our efforts as educators.
Pacific Institute will present its unique Educational Program that includes a 1-2 year internship program designed to promote a developmental process in which graduate students move into the role of existential facilitator and therapist to work efficiently and compassionately with a Geriatric population and a program of public education that strives to educate society at large about the processes of aging and the implications of an aging society.
In our innovative work with the elderly, we emphasize the aging process as a challenging and rewarding period that is often neglected not only by the individuals themselves but also by our communities and health professionals. Through continuing education and trainings, we coach educators in a holistic approach to aging. This exciting program is a pioneering effort that helps those younger in age develop their "inner elder" while accompanying the elderly on their path of meaning-making and aging.
Working in concert with residential facilities in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area, we accomplish two main objectives:
The Internship, with the participation of licensed mental health professionals, interns, and trainees, prepares service delivery professionals who will work with elderly adults providing a comprehensive concept of care while emphasizing the emotional, mental, and spiritual dimensions of aging. The students and professionals will help the elderly to maximize their options in a complex and challenging - but could be rewarding--phase of life.
Through the extension activities - public programs, support groups, lectures- the Internship program educates community members, residents, administrators, and public officers
This program has shown outstanding results.
(1) An increasing of numbers of professionals who did not plan to but stayed --in the field-- working on Geriatrics after the clinical training.
(2) and also a reduction of costs on medical and psychiatric emergencies of the population addressed by the program --a pilot study show that in a group of 13 assisted living residents followed in a longitudinal study for two years of being part of the Gerontological Wellness Internship Program-- there was savings of $ 1.1 million on medical and psychiatric costs for the City of San Francisco Public Health Department.
Along with the clinical training in Gerontology, we deliver our instructional materials and the clinical supervision using a unique feature by training the students in the phenomenological-existential approach to Gerontology that encourages students to develop and grow their own style of aging, caring, clinical support, being, and becoming an elder.
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