UNMC, Aging Service to Hold Ribbon-Cutting March 1,
Expand Free Health Screening Services, Adds Dental Screening, Targets Minorities
The University of Nebraska Medical Center has expanded its free health
screening services and will add limited dental screening services and other
nursing services at its health center in Lincoln, thanks to a $130,172
grant from the Nebraska Healthcare Cash Fund. The grant, renewable up to
three years, totaling about $314,000, is part of tobacco settlement fund
distributed last year.
On Thursday, March 1, at 11 a.m., faculty, students and officials from
the UNMC College of Nursing Lincoln Division, UNMC College of Dentistry,
and Aging Services will celebrate the expansion of free services at the
UNMC Senior Health Promotion Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and
open house. The event will be held at the centers location at the Lincoln
Downtown Senior Center, 1005 O Street.
The renamed UNMC Senior Health Promotion Center originally opened Nov.
9, 1999, as the UNMC College of Nursing Lincoln Divisions Senior Nursing
Clinic. Since then, 1,700 clients have been served, averaging about 100
clients a month. Because of the grant, services have expanded to include
the UNMC College of Dentistry providing limited dental services, as well
as the addition of more nursing services.
The UNMC Senior Health Promotion Center is open every week on Thursdays
from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and is operated by Lincoln nursing, dental
and dental hygiene students in their senior year, as well as faculty members.
It serves older adults with low-incomes, particularly focusing on minorities
and refugees living in Lincoln and Lancaster County area. Formerly known
as the Senior Nursing Clinic, the center changed its name to reflect added
services.
Expanded services will include: a fully-equipped dental clinic for oral
health and oral cancer screening; inspect, clean and label dentures; oral
hygiene education; bone density screening for osteoporosis; mental health
care; ear care; breast cancer screening; and help with smoking cessation,
alcohol and nutrition counseling.
Services the center will continue to offer: assessment of physical health;
blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose screening; foot care; answer questions
about medications and monitor medication side effects; and health education,
consultation and referral, if needed. No appointments are necessary.
Free medication organizers will be provided to help people organize
their medications. Each month, the center will focus on a health topic
of concern to older adults.
The Lincoln Area Agency on Aging operates the Downtown Senior Center
and donates space and clerical support
to UNMC, as well as collaborates to help identify older adults who
qualify for the services. The agency also provides transportation for people
to and from the center.
The ultimate goal of the center is to keep people healthy so they can
be independent in their own home as long as possible. The center will provide
needed services and give students valuable experiences in which to use
their skills in a community setting.
Although they serve many older adults, faculty members said the center
is not reaching the minority populations they had hoped to reach. In addition,
interpreter services will be offered as well as producing translated brochures
and marketing materials.
We need to build more awareness about the center, as well as address
transportation, language, and cultural issues that have hindered older
adult minority and refugee populations from accessing our services, said
Linda Sather, Ed.D., assistant professor of community health nursing, UNMC
College of Nursing Lincoln Division and project coordinator of the center.
We know we have a growing minority and immigrant population in Lincoln.
This grant will help us address those issues and immerse ourselves into
those areas we need to better understand.
The dental linic will be co-coordinated by Teresa E. Johnson, D.D.S.,
associate professor of dentistry, UNMC College of Dentistry. Her involvement
began last year.
This is something people can count on to be here every week, said
Dr. Johnson. The thought of the care and tenderness that is being provided
here means a lotin a place people are cared for, respected and honored
in a dignified way. I said, This is what I want to be a part of.
The center is funded by the grant, in-kind donations by the two colleges,
as well as private donations.
According to the 1997 United States Census, about 25,060 adults age
65 and older live in Lancaster County. About 3.6 percent are minority or
are refugees. The census of Lancaster County indicated in the population
age 60 and over, that 7 percent had incomes below the poverty level. This
number is increasing due to the increasingly aging population, further
causing social and economic costs to the community.
We are helping get people more enthused about their health and being
more compliant in doing things like watching their blood sugars, taking
their medications and making them aware of how to prevent fractures, Dr.
Sather said. If an older person fractures a bone, 50 percent require extended
care or a nursing home. For those who go home, some of them develop blood
clots from immobility.
One of the added benefits of the center is social interaction.
This is also a place where our clients can socialize and relate to
each other, Dr. Sather said. It gives some of them another social circle,
while it helps others who are totally alone and isolated.
Expected at the ribbon-cutting ceremony are: Ada Lindsey, Ph.D., dean
of the UNMC College of Nursing and John Reinhardt, D.D.S., dean of the
UNMC College of Dentistry, Bob Esquival, manager of the Lincoln Downtown
Senior Center; Don Wesely, the mayor of Lincoln; and Gina Dunning, director
of the Lincoln Area Agency on Aging.