Professional's Corner

How To Help Medicare Clients with the Medicare Drug Discount Card
Understanding the features and choices surrounding the Medicare-Approved Drug Discount Card is almost as much of a challenge for professionals helping their Medicare clientele as it is for Medicare recipients who are trying to understand the nuances of the Drug Discount Cared Program!

Did You Know?

About 66% of caregivers help an older person with activities of daily living (ADL's) such as bathing, dressing and personal care.

In order to adequately assist professionals working with Medicare populations, the Pima Council on Aging will provide workshops once a month from February through September, 2005. These workshops are sponsored by PCOA in cooperation with the Access to Benefits Coalition and ACORN. The workshop will include information on the Drug Discount Card Program, and will highlight the $600 Transitional Assistance Program so that you can help individuals who may be eligible for these funds.

The workshops will be held at the Pima Council on Aging in the Library, 8467 E. Broadway Blvd. on the second Wednesday of the month from 3:00 - 5:00pm. For more information and to RSVP, please call 790-7262.

Gerontology Courses Available
Good News is on the horizon for Arizona's elder population. Through a grant from HRSA, a Geriatric Education Center (AGEC) has been established in our state at the University of Arizona, Arizona Center on Aging. It is comprised of a consortium that includes the University of Arizona's Colleges of Nursing, Medicine, Public Health, Pharmacy, Department of Nutrition, and Gerontological Studies Program and Arizona State University's School of Social Work and Gerontology Program. It will eventually be affiliated with all of the Community Colleges and many public agencies in Arizona. Linda Phillips, PhD, RN, College of Nursing, and Evan Kligman, MD, College of Public Health, are Co-Directors for the AGEC.

The goals of the state-wide Center are to serve the health care needs of older persons in Arizona by encouraging the entry of students and professionals into the field of geriatrics and to increase the geriatric knowledge of those in health professions through the development of new educational programs. To accomplish this, the AGEC has coordinated the development of new courses in gerontology and geriatric care. The Gerontology Programs of the University of Arizona and Arizona State University are offering two Graduate Gerontology Certificates - the Foundational Certificate and a Graduate Gerontology Certificate - and a Masters degree in Gerontology. Many of the courses in these programs are available online, and all will eventually be online.

Other planned activities include monthly Grand Rounds held at the Arizona Cancer Center from 12:00 noon until 1:00 pm on the 3rd Thursday of each month. For those who are unable attend in person, these presentations will also be accessible via the Internet. Continuing education credit for physicians and nurses, and eventually social workers and pharmacists, will be offered. Numerous lectures, conferences, and workshops will also be held each year. The first conferences, with a focus on dementia, are planned in Tucson, Nogales, and Flagstaff.

For more information about these activities or other upcoming events and programs please contact us at (520) 626-5803 or visit our website at www.agec.arizona.edu.

Good Information for Writing Grants
Are you working feverishly against a deadline to write a grant for services to benefit your caregiving clients, care recipients and older adult constituency? Do you have fragmented piles of statistics and journal articles all over your desk? Do you need facts and figures that substantiate your needs assessment? Or, do you need to justify your programs and services to your top management, community leaders or public officials?

Well, here's a website that has a comprehensive document of "facts at your fingertips." Go to the Family Caregiver Alliance website statistics page at, www.caregiver.org/statistics.html and feast your eyes. They have a smorgasbord of comprehensive statistics that will assist you in describing the caregiving phenomenon in the U.S. and its impact on our social structure.

You have permission to visit their website as long as you promise to come back to our website and see what we have to offer for people with caregiving needs and the professionals that support them in Tucson and Pima County!

Direct CareGiver Association Trains C/NA's
The Direct CareGiver Association is a not-for-profit organization located in Tucson that provides comprehensive C/NA training, continuing education seminars and workshops for their students and access to employment following completion of their training courses. Call 325-4870 for information on their programs, or visit their website at www.directcaregiver.org.

 

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Website Editor: Jan E. Sturges, M.Ed, LPC - Website written and compiled by
Jan Sturges, M.Ed, LPC unless otherwise indicated.