WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an effort to keep pace with the growing number of elderly veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is expanding its network of geriatric centers of excellence with a new one co-located at the Birmingham and Atlanta VA medical centers.
"This center, called a Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), will join 20 other GRECCs across the nation to increase the basic knowledge of the aging process and diseases associated with aging. We will share that knowledge with health care providers to improve the quality of care for elderly veterans," said Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Hershel Gober.
The Birmingham/Atlanta GRECC will have various functions divided between the two medical centers. Two important problems of the elderly — urinary incontinence and mobility — will receive a special focus.
The GRECC program has steadily expanded since it began in 1975. GRECC staff have pioneered the development of academic nursing home units, special care units, specialized exercise programs, medication reduction clinics and sexual dysfunction centers. Additionally, GRECCs have established spinal cord injury clinics for older persons, a geriatric preventive health program for older veterans in the community and adapted work therapy program for veterans with dementia.
VA's research program includes conditions directly associated with aging — dementia, degenerative bone and joint diseases and diabetes — as well as diseases that are prevalent among the elderly, for example, cardiovascular disease.
In serving America's aging veteran population, VA faces a demand for geriatric care that the rest of American society will confront in 15 to 20 years. About 36 percent of the veteran population is 65 years or older, compared with 13 percent of the total U.S. population.
VA is meeting this challenge through an extensive geriatric program that includes nursing homes, domiciliary and residential rehabilitation programs, VA-supported state homes, hospice and respite care and non-institutional long-term care. Additionally, VA is expanding programs that care for veterans in their own homes or communities, such as adult day health care, homemaker and home health aide services and community residential care programs.
"VA is fully committed to caring for our aging veterans, who often have extended and complicated health care problems," said Gober. "GRECCs represent an exciting success story in facing this challenge. They have been leaders in geriatric research, the training of health professionals in gerontology and insights into the best way to care for our senior population. That's why we call them Centers of Excellence."
