From left, Dziadzia, Rachael Watman, and Rachael's grandmother in 1971.My grandfather, Albert Chura, was born on Valentine’s Day in 1907, on a boat en route to the United States from Poland. His family wanted to make a better life in America. And after a lifetime of doing so, at the age of 83, he died on my birthday.
Valentine’s Day always makes me think of Dziadzia (Polish for Grandfather and oddly pronounced Judgie—“Mom, that can’t be how you spell it!”)
I learned much from my grandfather. Dziadzia taught me to appreciate hot sauce and cheap American beer. Schlitz was a favorite. Dziadzia could build everything with anything. He was a tool and die maker and later a supervisor with Chrysler Motors.
He educated me on the use of all manner of power tools. As a young girl, I was quite facile with a jigsaw and spent hours in his basement buzzing, sawing, drilling, repurposing old scraps of wood into a variety of “gifts” for my family.
And as Dziadzia got older and battled cancer, he was the first to help me understand the value of quality, person-centered care for older adults and the need for a workforce and a health care system competent in assessing and addressing their unique needs.
Rachael's Dziadzia and grandmother, in their younger days.Dziadzia would be proud of the thousands of social workers, nurses, and physicians that the John A. Hartford Foundation has supported over the past 30 years. (In fact, he would raise a Schlitz in your honor.) Dziadzia also would applaud the crafting of the Hartford Change AGEnts initiative—building a collective enterprise much larger than the singular efforts of individuals.
Therefore, as a Valentine’s gift to you, we would like to share some new offerings and updates on the Hartford Change AGEnts initiative.
First, as of Feb. 14, the AGEnts web page (if you haven't already, please bookmark www.changeagents365.org) will have moved from its temporary home on the Hartford Foundation site to the Gerontological Society of America’s (GSA) newly reconstructed web site. This AGEnts splash page will provide you with the most up-to-date info and allow you to receive updates and ask questions.
This is the first step in launching the full AGEnts site in March 2014. This GSA-based site will include a searchable AGEnts database, resources, tools, and opportunities all geared to enable you to make change in the way health care is delivered to older Americans.
Secondly, we have our first in a series of knowledge and skills development AGEnts Webinars scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19 from 1-2:15 pm EST on What’s In It For Them: Developing Powerful Value Propositions. Creating meaningful value propositions is a fundamental part of any successful local, regional, or national effort to change care, services, organizations, systems, or policy. This interactive, 75-minute webinar will cover:
- The basics of strong "value propositions" and why they’re important to practice change;
- How multiple value propositions are necessary to engage various stakeholders;
- How to factor both the benefits & costs of your intervention into value propositions; and
- Field-based experience on the topic from Laura N. Gitlin, PhD, Co-leader of the Hartford Change AGEnts Initiative and Director of the Center for Innovative Care in Aging at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (MD); Kyle Allen, DO, AGSF, Vice President for Clinical Integration, Medical Director-Geriatric Medicine and Lifelong Health, Riverside Health System (VA); and Jennifer Porth, LISW-AP, Gerontologist Manager, Ambulatory Care Transition Team, Palmetto Health (SC).
The webinar will be facilitated by John Beilenson, President of SCP. Please join us for this informative presentation by registering for this free webinar.
Next, we were delighted to receive 25 applications for the Hartford Centers of Excellence (CoE) in Geriatric Medicine collaborative pilot awards. Priority was given to CoE Scholars who proposed projects in partnership with Hartford Change AGEnts. We will be announcing these winners soon.
Stay tuned for another collaborative pilot award RFP with the Paul B. Beeson Scholars and the Change AGEnts. We will also be announcing specific pilot grants for the Change AGEnts later this spring.
And for those attending the American Geriatrics Society annual meeting in Orlando, FL, in May, we will be hosting a Change AGEnts event. We value the opportunity to convene our Change AGEnts to network, showcase the pioneering work of the AGEnts, feature our newest resources and opportunities, and to hear directly from you about how we should be doing business.
We are enormously grateful to our partners in this effort—the American Geriatrics Society, the American Federation for Aging Research, and the Gerontological Society of America. Details to come.
Finally, our AGEnts leadership team—including Drs. Laura Gitlin and Nancy Whitelaw, along with staff from the GSA and SCP—have been drafting a conceptual model and background information about practice change and the intended impact of the AGEnts initiative. We would love your feedback and will be posting these materials soon.
Remember, this initiative is not only about you, it is for you. We want to make certain we are both hearing and incorporating your feedback.
Like Dziadzia, we are giving you—a talented bunch of committed leaders—tools, skills, resources, and opportunities. We want you to build something great on behalf of older adults. And then you can enjoy that cheap American beer.
Happy Valentine’s Day.