CARELINK is an award winning campus-community partnership that provides services to a community of elders by graduate and undergraduate students in partnership with community agencies. It arose out of mutual needs to improve community-based educational experiences for graduate and undergraduate students and the need for health maintenance care for elders who were no longer eligible for compensated care but had many unmet needs. Using the Anderson and McFarlane model of Community as Partner, University of Connecticut graduate students were instrumental in designing the CARELINK program with the VNA of Central Connecticut. This central partnership has resulted in the development of community links that include churches, senior centers, the high school, family service agencies, and assisted living facilities in an effort to bring increased health maintenance services to an elderly population in a mid size city with a large retired blue collar population. New programs that have resulted from these links and partnerships include reminiscence therapy, pet therapy, fall risk assessment and intervention, medication education through the use of a laptop computer, nutrition assessment and counseling, and a youth-elderly link program that meets the needs of high school students for volunteer services and elderly needs for multiple support services. Both students and the community of elders have benefited from this partnership. CARELINK has been recognized with the outstanding leadership and creative community program award for 1999 by the Connecticut Association for Home Care, Inc.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the learner will be able to: 1. Describe the process of developing a community-university partnership. 2. Identify community services and health promotion activities provided by graduate and undergraduate students to older adults in the community
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employed as a graduate teaching/research assistant at the University of Connecticut