Jan. 11, 2011 | The Arkansas Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence (HCGNE), part of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Nursing, has received a nearly $370,000 grant to increase the number of geriatric nursing faculty in Arkansas.

The two-year, $369,749 grant was awarded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, which promotes the health and independence of the country’s rapidly expanding geriatric population.

“The population of aging Arkansans is swiftly advancing just like everywhere else,” said Claudia Beverly, Ph.D., R.N., director of the Arkansas HCGNE. “Providing exceptional health care and improving quality of life to meet the state’s needs through work force development is what we’re actively striving to achieve. We are very excited to have been awarded this grant that will help us accomplish those goals.”

The grant is the third the Arkansas HCGNE has received from the Hartford Foundation dating back to a five-year award in 2001. A five-year extension was then awarded in 2006, leading to this two-year extension.

“We have an opportunity to really make a difference with an entire population through a better prepared geriatrics nursing work force,” said Claudia Barone, Ed.D, R.N., dean of the UAMS College of Nursing. “It takes the dedication of an entity like the Hartford Foundation to accomplish that, and we’re honored to have been awarded this grant.”

Nationally, the shortage of registered nurses is expected to reach 29 percent by 2020. Add to that the fact that of the 2.56 million registered nurses in the United States, fewer than 15,000 (.005 percent) are certified gerontological nurses. This grant is geared toward increasing the number of geriatric nursing faculty in Arkansas.

Founded in 1929, the John A. Hartford Foundation seeks to strengthen the nation’s capacity to provide effective, affordable care to this rapidly increasing older population by educating “aging-prepared” health professionals and developing innovations that improve and better integrate health and supportive services. The Foundation was established by John A. Hartford. Hartford and his brother, George L. Hartford, both former chief executives of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, left the bulk of their estates to the Foundation in the 1950s. Additional information about the Foundation and it programs is available at www.jhartfound.org.

The Arkansas HCGNE at UAMS is one of just nine programs nationally and the only one in the South. More information can be found at www.hartfordcenter.uams.edu.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Related Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a 540,000-square-foot hospital; a statewide network of regional centers; and six institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,836 students and 761 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com.