Reynolds Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence

Dr. Lazelle Benefield, Phd., RN, FANN, Discusses Health Care Reform with AARP Oklahoma Associate State Director Craig Davis

April 21, 2009

AARP Oklahoma Launches Online Opinion Leader Forum

April 29, 2009

AARP Oklahoma today announced the launch of its “Online Opinion Leader Forum” – a series of interviews on health care reform featuring prominent Oklahomans from varying perspectives and backgrounds.

“Our goal is to leverage these interviews in a way that will cause Oklahomans from all political backgrounds to recognize the need for health care reform in 2009,” said AARP State President Marjorie Lyons. “Each person who participated in this forum brings a unique perspective to the current debate on health care reform and offers valuable insight as we look forward to what we hope will be bipartisan action by Congress this year.”

AARP Oklahoma’s “Online Opinion Leader Forum” can be found on the association’s You Tube Channel at: www.youtube.com/AARPOklahoma .

Those participating in the discussion on health care reform are:

• Stanley Hupfeld, President and Chief Executive Officer, INTEGRIS Health, the largest Oklahoma-owned health system with hospitals, rehabilitation centers, physician clinics, mental health facilities, independent living centers and home health agencies throughout much of the state;

• Dr. Lazelle, Benefield, Phd., RN, FANN, Professor and Parry Chair in Gerontological Nursing, Adjunct Professor, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Director of the Donald W. Reynolds Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence, University of Oklahoma Health Science Center;

• Pam Cross, Executive Director, Health Alliance for the Uninsured;

• Lisa Reed, Coordinator, Baptist Community Clinic, Oklahoma City;

• State Rep. Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, Speaker Pro Tempore, Oklahoma House of Representatives;

• Dr. Mike Ritze, D.O., State Representative, R-Broken Arrow;

• Dr. Sharon Zang, Phd., Chief Executive Officer, Northeast Oklahoma Community Health Centers, Inc.

• Dale Flanagan, RPh, a retired pharmacist from Morris who volunteers at a free medical clinic in eastern Oklahoma;

• Catherine Remer, ARNP, a nurse practioner from Okmulgee who volunteers at a free medical clinic;

• Margaret Fitzgerald, Director of Trinity Clinic, a free health clinic in eastern Oklahoma which serves Oklahomans without insurance;

• State Senator Tom Adelson, D-Tulsa, former Secretary of Health under Gov. Brad Henry, founding member of the Tulsa Coalition of Children’s Health, former president and past board member of the Tulsa Mental Health Association, member of the Community Hospital Authority in Tulsa and the O.U. Health Care Task Force. Senator Adelson also chaired the Health Subcommittee for Governor Henry’s transition team and is a member of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services;

• State Senator Andrew Rice, D-Oklahoma City, former co-chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services.

“AARP, on behalf of our 40 million members, believes Congress must enact comprehensive bipartisan health reform now,” Lyons said. “We are calling on Congress and the President to find bipartisan, common sense solutions this year that will provide affordable health choices.”

AARP’s four primary goals for reform include:

• Ensuring Americans age 50 to 64 have a choice of affordable health care plans;

• Strengthening Medicare for current and future generations by lowering health costs and improving benefits;

• Ensuring both the benefits and the cost of health reform is shared by Americans of all generations; and,

• Helping people to stay in their homes and out of costly institutions.

In addition to the “Online Opinion Leader Forum,” AARP Oklahoma also is conducting a “Virtual Kitchen Table Tour” to film the stories of Oklahomans struggling with the health care system.

For the past two years AARP has been working to raise awareness of health care and long-term financial security issues through a campaign known as Divided We Fail – a partnership between the association, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Business Roundtable and the Service Employees International Union.

For more information on AARP Oklahoma, visit www.aarp.org/ok or e-mail: ok@aarp.org .

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to either political campaigns or candidates. There are more than 435,000 AARP members in Oklahoma. We produce AARP The Magazine, published bimonthly; AARP Bulletin, our monthly newspaper; AARP Segunda Juventud, our bimonthly magazine in Spanish and English; NRTA Live & Learn, our quarterly newsletter for 50+ educators; and our website, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Devices Offer Seniors Security - Missouri Expert Described Tools to OU Students

March 29, 2009

Motion detectors and medical sensors will make it easier for senior citizens to live at home longer and avoid nursing homes, an aging expert said.

Companies are developing new products to serve the millions of graying baby boomers, said Marilyn Rantz, associate director for the University of Missouri Interdisciplinary Center on Aging.  The center is testing such products on residents of TigerPlace, a university-owned senior living center.

"The size of the market is driving the interest of businesses in the area," she said.  "The scope and the potential are huge."

Rantz recently spoke to University of Oklahoma nursing students as a guest of the Donald W. Reynolds Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence.  That center's director, Lazelle Benefield, said technology that lets aging people stay home will save consumers money while allowing them to retain their independence longer.

"It's much cheaper still and important to their lives," she said about aging people staying home.

Devices that are being developed to aid seniors include:

• Motion sensors that can detect when someone's behavior changes, including walking and sleeping patterns.

• Video cameras that use silhouetting technology to allow more private observation of posture, gait and movement.

• Pneumatic tubes tucked into furniture or bedding to measure weight shifts.

The technology could generate automatic alerts to notify caregivers or medical providers so they can intervene and prevent health crises.

Reynolds Foundation Continues Support for Geriatric Medicine

Winter 2009

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation continues its significant and longterm support of geriatric medicine at the University of Oklahoma with the creation of the Donald W. Reynolds Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence within the College of Nursing.  The center, established with a $2.5 million grant from the foundation, will focus on increasing the number of qualified faculty in the field of geriatric nursing in Oklahoma.

The center will offer scholarships to nurses who want to earn doctorates, become professors and eventually train future generations of geriatricians.

Nationally, the 76 million American Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1959, are now between the ages of 50 and 63, and on the cusp of needing greater health services at a time when the number of medical professionals trained in geriatric medicine is shrinking proportionately.  Lazelle Benefield, director of the center and the Parry Chair in Gerontological Nursing in the OU College of Nursing, said that the number of Oklahoma residents older than 65 is expected to grow 67 percent by 2020.

The Reynolds Foundation grant will help prepare Oklahoma for its aging population by recruiting Ph.D. students who have a geriatric focus and enriching doctoral education for students interested in geriatrics by implementing a mentored interdisciplinary curriculum and a visiting scholars program.

The latest grant builds on two previous gifts from the foundation — an initial $11.2 million in 1997, which endowed 10 faculty positions in geriatric medicine to create the third full-fledged university-based department of geriatric medicine in the nation — and a second $7.5 million in 2007 to fund six more research positions.

OU to Boost Geriatric Training

January 14, 2009

The University of Oklahoma will use a $2.6 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to increase the number of nurses trained in geriatrics.  OU's Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence will offer scholarships to nurses who want to earn doctorates and become nursing faculty members specializing in geriatrics.  By increasing the number of faculty members, nursing schools can enroll more students interested in working with older patients.  Center Director Lazelle Benefield said such nurses are in great demand as baby boomers age and demand more health services.  Oklahoma's population of residents older than 65 is expected to grow 67 percent by 2020, she said.  Many of those people will choose to remain at home and rely on community and home-based care.  Nurses are trained for those settings differently than hospital-based care, and work more closely with family caregivers.  The center also will conduct research into factors that influence geriatric help, including race-related disparities.  "Educating more highly qualified nursing faculty with focus on older adults will help to influence vital health care delivery for our rapidly growing aging population," said Carole Kenner, OU College of Nursing dean.