UNE leads federally funded effort to make Maine health care 'age-friendly'

The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine will lead a federally funded effort aimed at transforming primary health care for older Mainers.

A total of $3.75 million in funding for UNE's Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program comes via a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration, announced last week.

For each of the next five years, UNE will receive around $750,000 to fund several initiatives. Funding is contingent on completing specific activities each year, according to a UNE spokeswoman.

The long list of planned initiatives includes training in eight primary care practice sites, a continuing education program for rural providers, and student participation in annual wellness and age-friendly health promotion events.

UNE will be joined by others in its efforts. Together with the University of Maine, MaineHealth and other partners, the university will form a statewide AgingME Council and communications platform. UNE describes this as the first comprehensive initiative linking academic, clinical practice and community-based service organizations focused on the well-being of Maine's older adults, their families and those caring for them.

"The AgingME initiative gives us the opportunity to transform primary care practice in this state," UNE President James Herbert said in a July 12 news release. "This grant will allow UNE to bring together Maine's many stakeholders in healthy aging to improve outcomes for our older adults and make Maine's healthcare system truly age-friendly."

He added that the move builds on Maine's nationally recognized success with primary care transformation and health care system alignment.

"We aim to be on the forefront of developing age-friendly health systems that focus on what matters most to older adults," said Susan Wehry, a physician, UNE's chief of geriatrics and the program director for the grant. "There is no better way to achieve this than to educate and empower patients, their families and the professionals who serve them."

Herbert told Mainebiz in an "On the Record" interview published in January that one of his priorities as the school's new leader is to take its team-based approach to health education "to the next level."