TNIPH Awarded Grant to Work with Older Adults

Ginny Kidwell, executive director of the Tennessee Institute of Public Health, has been awarded a Tennessee Regional Healthcare Quality Improvement Collaborative grant from the University of Indianapolis to bring together the Northeast Tennessee Healthcare Quality Improvement Collaborative with members from nursing facilities and other partners to address quality issues through two Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement projects.

The first of these projects will address healthcare associated infection prevention, and the second will be determined by Collaborative members. As part of the award, the University of Indianapolis Center for Aging & Community will partner with the institute to provide technical assistance and support to the project.

As an award recipient and lead organization, Ginny Kidwell and Kristine Bowers, Tennessee Institute of Public Health evaluator, will serve on the Leadership Team.  Additional members of East Tennessee State University’s College of Public Health include Taylor Dula, Academic Coordinator, and Chris Sutter, Data Services Manager. The Regional Collaborative will include known associates working in older adult care and long-term care facilities and will reach out to new partners to form the group. The Collaborative will include nursing home administrators, non-profit organizations, and governmental agencies from twelve counties in the greater Northeast Tennessee region. Target counties include Carter, Claiborne, Cocke, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Unicoi, Sullivan, and Washington.

The Leadership Team expects to engage over twenty long-term care facilities from the region to conduct activities for quality improvement. The Collaborative will be charged with determining quality improvement activities and best practices for effective engagement within facilities. This project will focus squarely on the development of partnerships that implement policies and activities that promote a call to action to protect residents, senior citizens and the disabled.

With an aging population in Tennessee, as is the case in other regions of the United States, a new crisis involving senior citizens is becoming an ever-increasing public health and safety challenge. This project provides an opportunity to engage individuals, organizations, and leaders from the long-term care, healthcare sectors, and other stakeholders to develop strategies to improve the overall health and well-being of this vulnerable population in our communities.

This award is one of five Regional Collaboratives across Tennessee to receive Civil Monetary Penalty Reinvestment funding for this purpose.