About Us

Our mission, goals, objectives and impact

Mission

The mission of NAGE is to represent the interests of organizations/groups that provide health professions education in geriatrics and gerontology, such as Geriatric Education Centers (GECs), faculty training/fellowship programs, and the like, through education of the public and other groups regarding the particular policy and financial needs of Geriatric Education in the United States.

NAGE is dedicated to improving the education/training, supply, distribution, diversity and quality of health care professionals through strong community-academic partnerships; ultimately to improve the quality of health care for all elderly individuals, including the underserved and minorities.

Goals

The goals of the corporation are to:

  • provide a forum that brings together representatives of member organizations to enhance the national N-AGE network,
     
  • facilitate the development and distribution of professional educational and technical assistance materials to N-AGE membership;
     
  • provide a mechanism for policy development and dissemination to external audiences regarding the mission, goals and impact of GEC programs; and
     
  • facilitate collaboration with other organizations or partners that have an interest in issues related to health care education in geriatrics and gerontology.

Major Objectives

1) Provide an organization to serve as a voice for the goals and interests of the nation's Geriatric Education Centers (GECs) and other groups/organizations that provide education in geriatrics and gerontology;

2) Facilitate the the interactions of the individual GECs and organizations with each other;

3) Provide guidance to the United States Public Health Service and other organizations in the development of programs to enhance the education of health care practitioners and others;

4) Educate Congress about necessary priorities in geriatric education;

5) Provide an organization that will work with other interest groups in geriatrics and gerontology to enhance opportunities for the education of health care practitioners in geriatrics and gerontology; and

6) Disseminate information in the field of geriatric education.

Impact of Our Programs   

In FY 2007:

  • 48 GEC Program grantees developed and provided 1,472 educational and training offerings to health professions students, faculty, and practitioners related to care of the older adult.
  • Interdisciplinary education and training was provided to 2,167 interdisciplinary teams. 
  • The GECs provided education and training to 64,414 health professions students, faculty, and practitioners. 
  • Clinical training in geriatrics to health professions students, faculty, and practitioners resulted in 1,491,124 patients encounters across the care continuum. 
  • The GECs developed curricular materials on topics relating to health care problems of older adults including, but not limited to, adverse drug reactions, bioterrorism and emergency preparedness, cultural competence, dementias and Alzheimer disease, depression, incontinence, elder abuse, ethics, interdisciplinary team care, rural access, teleconferencing, web-based modules, ethnogeriatrics, and improvement of quality care.

Since the inception of the GEC program in 1983, it has provided education and training to 940,196 health professions students, faculty,and practitioners in geriatrics.