Volume 6, Issue 3
March 29, 2010
In This Issue
- Hartford Trustees Award New Grant (March 2010)
- Hartford Foundation Co-sponsored Brookings Institution Forum
- Hospital Readmissions Report Highlights Successful Practices
- In Case You Missed It...from the Health AGEnda Blog
- June Simmons, Partners in Care Foundation Receive Ossofsky Award
- Farewell to Gavin Hougham
- Upcoming Hartford Program Funding Deadlines
- Communications Tip: Using Stories Effectively to Support Your Data
1. Hartford Trustees Award New Grant (March 2010)
In March 2009, the trustees of the John A. Hartford Foundation approved the following grant:
Geriatrics Leadership Development Initiative—Phase III
The Foundation awarded a three-year grant to the Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs (ADGAP) to continue to develop and sustain the leadership skills of geriatric academic program directors. While the effort will provide training in many specific skills and identify issues suitable for collective action on the part of ADGAP members, the Leadership Development Initiative will incorporate three essential elements the Foundation has observed in other successful programs: mentoring, networking, and problem solving.
Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs
G. Paul Eleazer, MD, University of South Carolina, ADGAP President
C. Seth Landefeld, MD, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
2. Hartford Foundation Co-sponsored Brookings Institution Forum
On January 28, 2010, the Foundation joined the SCAN Foundation in sponsoring Improving Health Care for Older Americans: Achieving Better Chronic Care at Lower Costs, held at The Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. The forum focused on strategies for improving care for older Americans across a range of institutional and community-based settings. Several Hartford staff, grantees, and friends participated in the event. Read more about the forum at: www.jhartfound.org/blog/?p=1285.
3. Hospital Readmissions Report Highlights Successful Practices
In partnership with the Commonwealth Fund, the Foundation supported the report Health Care Leader Action Guide to Reduce Avoidable Readmissions. The report, co-authored by the Health Research and Educational Trust of the American Hospital Association and released in January 2010, offers hospitals a timely and practical overview of the top research and practice models that have succeeded in reducing readmissions, which in turn can improve patients’ health care experience while achieving dramatic cost savings. For the full report, go to: www.jhartfound.org/pdf%20files/Health_Care_Leader_Readmission_Guide.pdf. We hope you will have an opportunity to read and share it with interested colleagues.
4. In Case You Missed It...from the Health AGEnda Blog
We hope that you have had an opportunity to check out Health AGEnda, the Foundation’s blog on health care, health policy, and aging (www.jhartfound.org/blog). In case you’ve missed any posts, we’d like to highlight a few recent ones by Chris Langston and Rachael Watman. Two posts “speak” to the Foundation’s growing interest in making sure we are communicating openly and effectively:
One urges grantees to make the communication two-way: In “Please Tell Us the Truth,” Chris Langston acknowledges how difficult it can be for grantees to tell foundations the truth and offers several avenues for providing feedback.
In “Broadcasting Our Message,” Rachael Watman explores the Foundation’s forays into social media and urges everyone to become part of the conversation about improving health care for older adults.
A large part of improving health care for older adults will include changing the education of nurses to provide them with greater training in geriatrics. In “The Future of Nursing Education,” Rachael Watman shares her thoughts on the importance of reforming nursing education, which she presented at the third IOM forum on the Future of Nursing Initiative.
Finally, be sure to check out Chris Langston’s “Adventures in Family Caregiving: The Confusion of the Long-Distance Caregiver” for another entry in our informal series on our program officers’ personal experiences of the shortcomings of our health care system.
Don’t miss out! Join the conversation by receiving new posts via email subscription or RSS feed. You can also follow the Hartford Foundation and the blog via Facebook. See you there!
5. June Simmons, Partners in Care Foundation Receive Ossofsky Award
We are pleased to announce that a long-time Foundation grantee, the Partners in Care Foundation, received the National Council on Aging (NCOA) 2010 Jack Ossofsky Award. Presented to June Simmons, Partners in Care Foundation CEO, at the annual NCOA/ASA conference on March 17, 2010, the award recognizes individuals or organizations that have taken a creative, new idea and successfully developed it to help older people achieve vital aging. For more information about Partners in Care, visit: www.picf.org.
6. Farewell to Gavin Hougham
We are saddened to announce the departure of Gavin Hougham from the Foundation in March 2010. Gavin, who came to us from the University of Chicago in 2005, has served as senior program officer with responsibility for our grants in medicine. He has made many important contributions in his years with the Foundation, such as his work on the Beeson program, the Chief Resident in Training program, and the capstone of his work, the redesign of the Centers of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine program. While we share Gavin’s excitement at pursuing new opportunities, we know that we will have big shoes to fill.
7. Upcoming Hartford Program Funding Deadlines
April 7, 2010
The Practice Change Fellows Program
www.practicechangefellows.org
April 8, 2010
Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing Summer Scholars Institute
hartfordign.org/Research/Scholars_Program
April 10, 2010
Gero-Ed Specialized Gerontology Program
depts.washington.edu/geroctr/Center2/sub2_10_1SpecGero.html
August 2, 2010
Hartford Doctoral Fellows in Geriatric Social Work
www.gswi.org/programs/hdf.html
8. Communications Tip: Using Stories Effectively to Support Your Data
You’ve probably heard it more than once: tell a story to really get your point across. But, that’s sometimes easier said than done. If you’re struggling to find or use a story to add impact to your presentations, check out these resources:
“Stories or Data: Which Makes the Stronger Case?” in free-range thinking (online) and “Storytelling as Best Practice” (in print) from Andy Goodman are two excellent resources. |
