University of Delaware Office of Public Relations The Messenger Vol. 5, No. 4/1996 New opportunities for students inside Newark Senior Center The Newark, Del., Senior Center-with its more than 1,800 members-has a new home, complete with an indoor pool, exercise room, game room, library, cafeteria with stage and such artworks as an original sculpture by Charles Parks, Delaware '50. The center also has an innovative health-care facility, operated by the UD College of Nursing, and provides a wing for the University's Adult Day Care Center. Both provide UD students with unique outlets for study, research and volunteer activity. Adult Day Care Center Finding a permanent home for the Adult Day Care Center, operated by the Department of Individual and Family Studies in the College of Human Resources, is a dream come true for director Anne Camasso. Forty-two people are enrolled in the center, and, on any given day, as many as 27 attend this program, which has a waiting list. The center's philosophy is to provide a therapeutic and caring environment for seniors living in the community who are in need of a structured environment during the day. The population of the Adult Day Care Center is composed of frail adults with such serious conditions as heart disease. About 50 percent of the people suffer from some form of dementia. The center's atmosphere is nurturing, everyone is known by name and everyone who wants to lend a hand is encouraged, like the woman who suffered a severe stroke but feels useful rolling the silverware every day in napkins for lunch. "Lots of the people who come here say they are coming to work, coming to school, coming to their club," Camasso explains. "It adds to their life experience. It gives them something to talk about each day when they go home." Traditionally, clients at the center are just a few steps away from nursing home care. In many cases, they come to the center because the family members with whom they reside need to work and are afraid to leave their elderly alone at home. Sometimes, they come because the burden of caring for them leaves families in need of a break. UD students play an important part in the center, working as volunteers or for academic credit through courses in the College of Human Resources' Department of Individual and Family Studies, according to chairperson Marion C. Hyson. One student, for example, researched the management of time and resources for families of those with Alzheimer's. Other have developed programs presented to the clients and have planned and carried out large- and small-group activities. "One student had the clients divide into small groups for discussions of current events and how they relate to history-maybe a discussion of today's elections as compared to those of FDR," Camasso explains. In the future, Camasso says she hopes to have students help develop ways to integrate the population of the Adult Day Care Center into a few of the activities of the senior center. "Working with both populations would give the students the chance to see the continuum. These folks don't need to be ostracized. With a little help, many can fit into the general adult population. For example, both groups already play bingo. It would be nice to have a bingo game together some time. "It's the philosophy of inclusion, the idea that even when people are very challenged, they need the very best environment so they can participate as much as possible, she says." The HEALTH Center Healthy Elder Adult Living Through Holistic Healthcare (HEALTH) is the name of the health-care facility, which caters to adults age 55 and over, offering full physical examinations, comprehensive geriatric health assessments and screening, counseling, education programs and referral services. Many Americans don't realize the pressing need for primary care for elderly patients, Lucille Pulliam, associate professor of nursing and HEALTH Center director, says. One survey gives the national average for doctors specializing in geriatrics at 1.32 per 10,000 Americans. In Delaware, the average is 0.17, placing it among the bottom five states in the nation in terms of available geriatric physicians. Nurses prepared to work with the elderly also are in short supply, Pulliam says. The HEALTH Center can help alter the course of aging in positive ways, with improved prevention, detection and early treatment of mental and physical illnesses and assistance with such life-style changes as smoking cessation, she explains. A joint project among the University, the Newark Senior Center and the city of Newark, the HEALTH Center is funded by a $812,000, five-year grant from the U.S. Public Health Services Division of Nursing, with in-kind staffing from the University and space from the city. After two years, funds will decrease by 25 percent each year with the expectation that the center will become increasingly self-sufficient. According to Peggy Corrigan, the center's advanced practice nurse, "We hope the center will improve access to health care for senior citizens in the area. They can come in for treatment of anything from a sore throat to chest pain." Jean Raymond, an instructor in nursing and a general clinical nurse specialist, and Lisa Plowfield, an assistant professor of nursing, also are part of the staff, working with Dr. Wayne Zwick, a geriatrician, and Margy DuVal, a licensed clinical social worker. Raymond will be part of the center's Geriatric Assessment and Intervention Team (GAIT), which will go out into the community and make at least one home visit to patients for a complete physical, emotional, social and economic status report. Plowfield is the program evaluator, responsible for collecting data and for monitoring the impact of the center and its programs. "A functional assessment within the home allows us to look at a patient's daily activities. We can see how they function, what their home environment is like. We can see how they navigate around their homes, see if they need help meeting daily needs and, with the social worker, look at things such as how they do their shopping, how they pay their bills. We can check in the refrigerator and see if they really are eating; we can review all of their medications; we can urge them to come into the office for a physical. It's all about how we can make their lives better," Raymond says. Another aspect of health for senior citizens-mental health-is addressed by a peer counseling program being coordinated by Loretta Kilby, a retired nurse, and Elaine Greggo, Delaware '96, a psychiatric nurse with a master's degree in gerontological nursing. The program helps peers deal with the many changes and stresses experienced by older persons. In addition to providing services to older adults, the HEALTH Center also employs older adults. Anne Thomson and Jeane Garner are support staff who help manage the details at the new center. Opportunities also abound for involving undergraduate and graduate students from the College of Nursing and other areas of the campus. "The nurse-managed center will provide undergraduate students opportunities to assess age-related changes and to compare the difference between normal aging and the effects of disease as demonstrated by diverse populations in the center," Pulliam says. "It will provide advance practice (graduate) nursing students opportunities to become experts on a broad range of topics. "The center will provide students with learning opportunities to meet the health-care needs of the fastest growing segment of our population," she says. "By providing practice opportunities for faculty, learning experience for students and development of a database for research analysis, the center can become a cornerstone of education, clinical practice and research for the College of Nursing in the field of gerontology." -Beth Thomas