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Omaha-natives Paul and Lori Hogan are the co-founders of Home Instead Senior Care, the world’s largest provider of non-medical home care for seniors. Pending regents’ approval, the new UNMC geriatrics center will be named for the Hogans’ company. |
The naming of the building would recognize a major gift made through the University of Nebraska Foundation by Paul and Lori Hogan, co-founders of Home Instead Senior Care, the largest provider of non-medical home care to seniors in the world.
Headquartered in Omaha, Home Instead Senior Care was founded in 1994 and now has 765 franchise businesses in the United States and 12 foreign countries. The company’s franchise owners employ 50,000 workers called CAREGivers. These CAREGivers help seniors with the activities of daily living providing personal services and other support such as companionship, meal preparation, light housekeeping, medication reminders, errands and shopping — all of which enable seniors to live in their own homes where most desire to stay. CAREGivers also provide similar services to seniors who reside in care facilities.
The two-level center will occupy 25,300 square feet and will cost nearly $10.2 million. It will be built at the intersection of Leavenworth Street and 38th Avenue at the present site occupied by the Annex 4, 5 and 6 buildings on the east end of the UNMC campus. Demolition of the annex buildings is slated to begin late this summer with construction of the new building completed in late summer/early fall of 2009. The building will be funded entirely with private donations.
“We can’t thank the Hogans enough for their generous gift,” said Harold M. Maurer, M.D., UNMC chancellor. “This is a perfect example of how a public university can work together with a private company for the betterment of society. This is a mutually beneficial situation for both institutions and will allow us to take geriatric care in Nebraska to a whole new level. I couldn’t be more excited to watch this partnership flourish.”
Jane Potter, M.D., professor and chief of the section of geriatrics and gerontology at UNMC, said the partnership brings together two institutions with complementary expertise. “By combining our strengths, we will be able to greatly enhance the quality of the work that we both do on behalf of older people,” she said. “The partnership will provide a myriad of opportunities to learn from each other as we advance our clinical, research and educational initiatives.”
Today, people age 85 and older are the fastest growing segment of the population, and more than 36 million Americans are older than 65. By 2030, that number will nearly double and reach 71 million with one in every five Americans being older than 65. Nebraska, along with other Midwestern states, has seen a rapid aging of its population due to greater natural longevity and an out-migration of younger people, said Dr. Potter, who served as president of the American Geriatrics Society in 2005-06 and is now serving as chair of the AGS board of directors.
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“This gift is in honor of all those who believe in the Home Instead mission — thousands of CAREGivers, office personnel and franchise owners — who dedicate themselves every day to helping seniors age safely at home instead of anywhere else,” said Paul Hogan, who serves as CEO for Home Instead Senior Care. “We share a common goal with UNMC, Dr. Potter and her team — to help people age more successfully. That’s why this unique relationship between Home Instead and UNMC holds such tremendous promise.
“We are confident that by working together we can do much more than just address problems. We will find solutions to truly help seniors age more successfully. It’s an exciting day for us personally. But, more important, it marks the beginning of a unique partnership with the potential to touch the lives of thousands — even millions — of seniors around the world.”
The Home Instead Center for Successful Aging will create physical space for both the sections of geriatric medicine and geriatric psychiatry, which currently include seven geriatric physicians, five geriatric psychiatrists and one geriatric psychologist.
The center will increase clinical and translational research, Dr. Potter said, by establishing an environment that will make it much more conducive for clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease and other geriatric-specific disorders. Gerontology and geriatric medicine have been part of the medical school curriculum since 1981, and training in geriatrics has been mandatory for internal medicine and family medicine residents for more than 20 years.
Chronic and age-related diseases, such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s and heart disease place a tremendous strain on the U.S. health care system, Dr. Maurer said, noting that 40 percent of families have some type of caregiver for themselves or family members. At the same time, shortages of trained geriatric health care providers are predicted to reach crisis levels within the next few years.
“With the huge number of baby boomers now in retirement or nearing retirement, we consider providing quality care to seniors to be perhaps the most significant health care challenge faced by our country today,” he said. “The need for a specialized center for geriatric medicine has never been greater.”
The Hogans, who are both Omaha natives, have been longtime supporters of the University of Nebraska. Paul Hogan is a 1985 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Lori Hogan is a 1984 graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She was named Miss Nebraska USA in 1982.
Paul Hogan was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” for 2006 by the International Franchise Association, one of the highest honors in franchising. In 2004, Lori Hogan received the “Successful Business Woman Award” by the Omaha Downtown Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association. Both the Hogans serve on the board of directors of Family First Nebraska. The couple has four children.