Academy Receives $5.1 Million Grant to Train More Aging-Expert Social Workers to Care for Graying Americans

NEW YORK CITY, March 23???The New York Academy of Medicine has been awarded a four-year, $5.1 million grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation to educate hundreds of social workers to care specifically for older adults, a population that will swell as the nation???s 78 million graying baby-boomers reach official senior citizen status. Combined with a second $3.8 million grant that the Foundation has pledged to the Academy for 2009, the funds will ultimately allow more than 1,000 social workers to be trained as elder care specialists by 2013.

The generous grant will allow geriatrics education to be incorporated into Master of Social Work (MSW) programs at 60 social work schools nationwide???constituting one-third of the nation???s MSW programs???so that students are educated both in the classroom and in the field. Graduate-level students will work hands-on with seniors in the community, at their homes, in hospitals and clinics, and in nursing homes to receive real-life experience in providing services to older adults. It is critical to train more students in geriatrics social work and whet their appetites to choosing this specialty as their career in order to fill the severe shortage of professionals equipped to help older adults with basic health and social service needs, said Patricia J. Volland, MSW, MBA, Senior Vice President of the Academy and Director of the Academy???s Social Work Leadership Institute, which will carry out the project.

???By expanding the number of graduate-level social work schools that offer specialized geriatrics training, the Academy is grooming a new breed of social workers who are attuned to seniors??? special needs and concerns and who are specially equipped to improve older adults??? physical and emotional quality of life,??? Volland said.

Officially called the Practicum Partnership Program Adoption Initiative, the eight-year program will greatly expand the Academy???s past success at training more social workers who are skilled and knowledgeable in treating older adults. The initial Practicum Partnership Program (PPP) demonstration project, also run by the Social Work Leadership Institute (http://socialwork.nyam.org), consisted of six partnerships involving 11 MSW programs nationwide and 100 partnering agencies in the community. The PPP successfully educated over 400 aging-savvy social workers between 1999 and 2004 with Hartford Foundation support. (Learn more about the program at In this next initiative, the Academy will serve as the PPP Coordinating Center and will award modest funding to 35 MSW programs in the first four years of the project, and then to an additional 25, while supporting robust training and offering ongoing technical assistance. A Request for Proposals will be distributed in April.

???We believe it is extremely critical to change social work education so that geriatrics education is ultimately the norm rather than the exception and older adults get the care they need and deserve,??? said Corinne H. Rieder, Executive Director and Treasurer of the Hartford Foundation. ???The Academy and the Hartford Foundation have together been leaders in this field, and this grant will allow us to continue striving to expand the workforce of skilled geriatric social workers so that no seniors fall through the cracks.???

By 2020, the United States will be home to at least seven million people over age eighty-five. At least half of those oldest-old are expected to need help in the basic activities of daily living. Professional social workers with aging-related training and experience will play a more critical role than ever before in the national effort to provide care for this especially vulnerable population. They are singularly qualified to help smooth the myriad physical, emotional, and logistical challenges that older adults face, whether they reside in institutional settings such as nursing homes or use community-based care systems such as senior centers. Social workers are also integral in delivering needed services to older adults??? family members, who often shoulder the burden of caring for a frail loved one without realizing the breadth of support services available.

Founded in 1929, the John A. Hartford Foundation is dedicated to improving health care for America???s older adults. Through its grant-making, 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 and developing innovations that improve and better integrate health and supportive services. Visit the Foundation online.

The New York Academy of Medicine, one of the country???s premier urban health policy and intervention centers, focuses on enhancing the health of people living in cities through research, education, advocacy, and prevention. Visit us online.

Posted on March 23, 2005

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