CELEBRATING THIRTY YEARS OF AGING
AND HEALTH 2012 ANNUAL REPORT
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CULTIVATE LEADERS IN GERIATRICS

1983

Practice Change Fellows

2007-2012 Early efforts by the Hartford Foundation to support and sustain leaders in geriatrics were focused mostly on building academic capacity. In 2007, the Foundation turned its attention to nurses, social workers, and physicians working in health care settings outside of academic institutions (nursing homes, home health care agencies, medical clinics, hospitals, and the community).

The Practice Change Fellows program, which was originally spearheaded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, provides a two-year training opportunity for nurses, physicians, and social workers who lead health-related organizations to develop leadership skills, content expertise, and relationships that will enable them to positively influence care for older adults, as they employ these skills in geriatric redesign projects within their organizations.

All 38 fellows successfully implemented programs and services that are improving the health of older adults in their health care organizations. Many are spreading geriatric-focused efforts beyond the walls of their individual hospitals, nursing homes, home care and social service agencies, and clinics. Several fellows have assumed greater leadership roles allowing them to have broader impact on the delivery of care.

In 2013, the Hartford Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies launched the Practice Change Leaders for Aging and Health program as a follow-up program. Ten participants per year for three years will be chosen to receive funding to complete innovative projects and expand their effectiveness as organizational leaders improving care of older adults.



(Top and below) Practice Change Fellow Ilaina Edison, RN, MBA, former Senior Vice President of the VNSNY, coordinated the agency’s response to Hurricane Sandy in New York in October 2012. Nearly 100 percent of their clients, many of whom were without electricity, phone, and elevator service, were connected with their VNSNY caregivers. “The Practice Change Fellows program taught me the leadership skills I needed when Hurricane Sandy devastated areas of New York City where clients of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York live.” Ilaina Edison, RN, MBA
Formerly: Senior Vice President
Visiting Nurse Service of New York
Currently: Chief Strategy Officer
CenterLight Health System
“These health professionals spend years preparing for their clinical roles, but almost no time preparing for their administrative or leadership roles.” Eric A. Coleman, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine
Division of Health Care Policy and Research
University of Colorado, Denver

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