Living long, aging well, with the de Tornyay Center on Healthy Aging

deTScholarsAn arthritis sufferer wants to learn more about reducing pain and disability with exercise. A nursing student interested in older adults needs scholarship support. A retirement community wants to collaborate with faculty experts on a fitness program for residents.

Although their situations and needs are different, they all have something in common:the de Tornyay Center on Healthy Aging is making a positive difference in their lives.

Founded in 1999, the endowed de Tornyay Center on Healthy Aging is funding research and working with communities, health practitioners and private citizens to advance information about maintaining good health throughout adulthood, even in the face of chronic disease. According to former Director Deborah Ward, "The de Tornyay Center is a rich resource to students in particular, and, thanks to generous donations and to grant awards, we are growing in our ability to support students who will be the gerontologic nurses and scholars of the future."

Why the focus on healthy aging?

Because life expectancy for Americans has risen from about age 50 in 1900 (men and women combined) to almost 80 in 2000, with many Americans living to over 100. Because in Washington state, 11.2% of the population is over age 65, a 15% increase from the prior decade. And because "just living longer means nothing if you are not healthy enough to enjoy it," according to Dean Emeritus Rheba de Tornyay, in whose honor the Center is named, and who is pictured on our cover.

As the world's older adult population steadily increases, the de Tornyay Center on Healthy Aging is poised to achieve international prominence in gerontological nursing with a cadre of faculty researchers working on issues relating to aging. Improving our understanding of sleep in older age; advancing geriatric care for people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia and their caregivers; supporting studies relating to midlife and aging women; and increasing nursing competence in providing end-of-life care are some of the studies being conducted by faculty affiliated with the Center.

To encourage an interest in aging by undergraduate students, sixteen mentored nursing undergraduate research scholarships totaling $24,000 have been awarded since the Center opened. Working with faculty mentors, undergraduate nursing students have increased knowledge about irritable bowel syndrome in older adult women, self-care barriers for elderly diabetics, the role of spirituality in aging, and barriers to healthy aging in underserved populations, to describe but a few of their studies.

A mentored master's level nursing research scholarship has also been awarded for the 2001-2002 academic year in the amount of $5,000. Germaine Kryson '50 has supported both an undergraduate research scholarship and the first master's scholarship. Kryson says she is excited about the de Tornyay Center and also the geriatric nurse practitioner program, which she feels "provides a very important link for the older adult and will speed up the process of getting the necessary care."

In future years, with funding from the John A. Hartford Foundation of New York and the de Tornyay Center, three more mentored master level scholarships will be added.

In addition, the John A. Hartford Foundation is sponsoring research by pre- and post-doctoral scholars, including Lissy Hansen, a post-doctoral fellow working with Associate Professor Sarah Shannon to develop an instrument for assessing family caregivers' experiences assisting with end-of-life decision making; Lynn Woods '93 MA, '99 Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow doing research in gerontology at the University of Arkansas Medical Center; and Lynette Jones '97 Ph.D., founder and chair of her own software company, Point-of-Care Ware, who was recently awarded the John A. Hartford Building Academic Nursing Capacity MBA Scholarship.

Besides student scholarships, the Center also supports pilot studies through the Research and Intramural Funding Program for faculty members who are doing innovative research in the field of aging. In March, it awarded $10,000 to Carol Leppa, Associate Professor at UW Bothell School of Nursing, for her proposal entitled "End of Life Outcome Measures in the Long Term Care Nursing Environment."

HARTFORD FOUNDATION GRANTS

Three grants from the John A. Hartford Foundation in New York are helping to build the Center's capacity in geriatric nursing education and practice.

One, the Nursing School Geriatric Investment Program, is sponsoring a three-year program to build the undergraduate curriculum and to develop additional graduate and doctoral coursework in healthy aging and the care of older adults. Two important features of this grant are funding to increase the number of faculty advisors with expertise in geriatrics and healthy aging through mid-career training opportunities, and the development of a certificate program in geriatric nursing for practicing nurses in the community.

A second Hartford grant, the Geriatric Nursing Education Project, is focused entirely on undergraduate education. Recognizing that part of effective nursing care is understanding the patient, this unique funding opportunity will expose students to the experience of aging using cross-curriculum experiences in the arts. Four didactic courses will employ faculty from the UW art history department and a docent from the Seattle Art Museum to introduce students to paintings and sculpture that "portray beliefs about health and illness in the context of aging," according to Aljoya ProfessorMargaret Dimond. These studies will include cultural differences as well, with representations from African, American Indian and Pacific Island societies.

In addition to the visual arts, UW English department faculty will assist the School in selecting a cross-section of literature that conveys concepts of aging, and faculty from the UW history department will help students understand how definitions of aging have been changed over time by class, region, ethnicity and religion. Films and videos will portray aging and intergenerational relationships.

In a third grant from both the Hartford Foundation and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, scholarship support will be provided to five geriatric nurse practitioner students over a three-year period. According to Associate Dean for Academic Services Susan L. Woods, the "Creating Careeers in Geriatric Advanced Practice Nursing" proposal received special recognition for its plan to recruit and enroll students of color, male students, and students who plan to practice in rural and underserved settings. Applicants for these scholarships must be residents of the state of Washington.

NEW SUMMER INSTITUTE LAUNCHED

Besides supporting education and research related to healthy aging, the de Tornyay Center is also sponsoring public lectures and a faculty development institute to promote scholarship in healthy aging. In a two-day event in May, Dr. Miriam Nelson, director of Tuft University's Center of Physical Fitness, gave a public lecture on "Healthy Aging: Smart Women and Men Beat Arthritis" followed by an interactive session for faculty. On the second day of the institute, Kate Lorig and Diane Laurent of Stanford University's Center for Patient Education Research discussed the Lorig model for self-management of chronic disease.

For further information about the de Tornyay Center and other upcoming events, e-mail Joyce Nakamura at joyna@u.washington.edu, or visit the de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging website at http://www.agingcenter.org/.

CREDIT:  The de Tornyay Center on Healthy Aging Undergraduate Research Scholarship recipients gather at the annual spring Scholarship Reception for donors and students. From left to right they are Peggy Tani, Katie Robins, Heather Askren, Katie Adamson, Allison Wong, Kate Malkin and Betsy Greacen. Not pictured are Rocio Alayo and Alexa Vellema.