News Releases
7/20/06
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation has awarded KU Endowment a $2 million grant to support geriatric medical education at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. The grant will help fund the new Kansas Reynolds Program in Aging based at the Landon Center on Aging at the KU Medical Center Campus.
"With the support of the Reynolds Foundation award, our School of Medicine can create an exciting new national training model to optimize the quality of health care for older adults," said Barbara F. Atkinson, MD, executive vice chancellor of the KU Medical Center and executive dean of the School of Medicine.
Kansas ranks fifth among states in the percentage of persons aged 85 and older. About one in seven Kansans is older than 65.
The grant is part of the Reynolds Foundation's Aging and Quality of Life program, created by the Foundation in response to a growing consensus that many physicians lack adequate training to meet the increasing needs of the elderly patient.
"The Foundation is proud to support the Kansas Reynolds Program in Aging," said Steven Anderson, president of the Reynolds Foundation. "It is a comprehensive, innovative program that will teach medical students, residents and faculty members to improve the quality of health care for older adults in Kansas and beyond. The results of this program will live well beyond the life of the grant as physicians for years to come are better prepared to care for vulnerable older adults."
Forty-eight academic health centers applied for Reynolds geriatric training grants in March 2005. The KU School of Medicine was one of the top 10 chosen. Other selected institutions include Harvard University, Vanderbilt University and Brown University.
"This program is a major new undertaking for our institution, which will improve not only the quality of geriatric medical education provided our learners and faculty, but more importantly the quality of care provided our older adult patients," said Daniel Swagerty, MD, MPH. Dr. Swagerty is the associate director of medical education at KU's Landon Center on Aging and will serve as the principal investigator and director for the Kansas Reynolds Program in Aging.
Major grant initiatives at KU include improving functional independence, avoiding medical errors, appropriate pharmacotherapy, understanding system efficiency and transitions of care for older adults. Also included are the primary educational objectives of teaching patient and family-centered care, interdisciplinary team management, evidenced-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics support for clinical decision-making.
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in
1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.
KU Endowment is an independent, non-profit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for the University of Kansas. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.
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