URI students to present health and wellness projects at senior center

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – University of Rhode Island students majoring in programs as different as psychology, pharmacy, physical therapy, health studies and human development are teaming up to tackle health problems plaguing older adults.

Five teams of 12 students will present their work – as posters – on Wednesday, May 4, during a health and wellness fair at the South Kingstown Senior Center, 25 St. Dominic Road.

The service-learning project arose from a class taught by Phillip G. Clark, a URI human development and family studies professor who also directs the URI Program in Gerontology and the Rhode Island Geriatric Education Center. The students’ work is an example of what can be accomplished through URI’s new Academic Health Collaborative – created to increase collaboration among different health professions and departments and foster teamwork to address challenging health issues.

The collaborative, launched in March, is expected to spur cooperation and innovation in research, inter-professional education, population health, health promotion and recognition and elimination of health disparities. The initiative could also pave the way for faculty-led health clinics, new programs in public health and health policy and worksite health programs, as well as student projects like the one from Clark’s class.

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Participants in the wellness fair can expect to see posters about active aging, sleep and insomnia, fall prevention, memory changes with aging, and diabetes as a chronic disease. The posters were made possible through a federal grant awarded to URI to implement health education for older adults through the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program. The purpose of the grant is to provide professional training opportunities for people who care for older adults.

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