Recent Project Awards and Collaborations

Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education: The Launching of Collaboration with Community Agencies Working in the Field of Aging

The Department of Social Work has joined with the Aging Futures Coalition, Rural Health Network, AmeriCorps, Association for Vision, Rehabilitation and Employment, RSVP of Broome County, Broome County Council of Churches and the Broome, Tioga and Delaware Offices for Aging to provide field placements with stipends for four students in the field of aging.

This initiative is founded on the belief that creating collaborations between the community and academe is essential to transforming social work education in gerontology. The initiative aims to support four MSW students/year in year-long internships within several different agencies serving older adults. Students will be exposed to a continuum of aging issues from health through death, develop skills and expertise in the field of aging and network within the community.

Broome County has already begun to distinguish itself in the field of aging with its formation of the Aging Futures Partnership through receipt of a prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant. This partnership includes professionals from multiple disciplines, religious groups, consumers and agency representatives. Aging Futures has completed a county needs assessment, developed action points and has begun responding to these points. Many agencies that do not employ social workers have been identified that serve elders who could benefit from social work support. Aging Futures partners are enthusiastic about increasing the quantity and quality of social workers with expertise in aging in the Southern Tier, and have been actively involved as our community partner in the planning and development of the Practicum Partnership Program (PPP).

Hartford Fellow Accomplishments

Nathaniel Studgeon and two other Hartford Fellows embarked on a leadership project as part of their year-long fellowship funded through the New York Academy of Medicine.  The project involved working with the Southern Tier End of Life Coalition preparing educational programs about Health Care Decisions and Health Care Proxy’s.  Fellows developed a training for other Masters of Social Work graduate students, teaching them about advanced care health decisions and helping them to learn how to talk to others about advance care planning issues.  The project culminated on National Health Care Planning Day where they  then provided outreach at the university.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQCxHwvzl9E