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Gloria Kreps
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UPMC Media Relations

University Of Pittsburgh Institute On Aging, UPMC Provide Geriatric Sensitivity Training

PITTSBURGH, July 28, 2006 — The University of Pittsburgh Institute on Aging in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is offering “Ageless Wisdom: A Sensitivity Training Program.” The educational program, originally targeted to all areas of UPMC on geriatric sensitivity through various workshops, also will be available to the general public.

Current UPMC programs focus on encouraging a senior-friendly physician’s office, while others focus on hands-on exercises geared toward showing UPMC staff skills or tips to use when working with elderly patients. An additional aspect of this program is to train UPMC employees to be caregivers both in their personal and professional lives.

Ageless Wisdom: A Sensitivity Training Program is led by Betty Robison, R.N.C., M.S.N., gerontology educator, University of Pittsburgh Institute on Aging. Robison’s objective is for UPMC employees as well as students from UPMC schools of nursing to gain a more positive view of older adults, to build empathy for older adults in need of care and to develop skills to more efficiently care for older adults.

Through educational videos and activities -- such as counting money with rubber gloves to parallel loss of quick hand movement, separating multi-colored pills with optically-impaired glasses and walking with corn kernels in each shoe to mimic arthritis -- Robison acknowledges the uncomfortable and painful conditions that many older adults live with on a daily basis and then teaches participants how to handle each particular situation.

For more information on how to participate in Ageless Wisdom: A Sensitivity Program or for additional information about the program, please contact the University of Pittsburgh Institute on Aging 866-430-8742.

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