Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education: Flexible and Adaptable Field Education Model Kristina Hash West Virginia University Saturday October 29, :00 am – 9:30 am

Small Towns and Rural Areas West Virginia  2 nd oldest state  Very rural Division of Social Work  BSW & MSW  FT & PT MSW  5 locations  Rural focus Context

Small Towns and Rural Areas Rural Focus Special focus on small towns and rural communities Word of caution “If you have seen 1 rural area, you have seen 1 rural area” -Chuck Fluharty (RPRI)

Small Towns and Rural Areas Rural Focus Challenges facing rural elders poverty limited access to health and human services geographic isolation and limited transportation high proportion of chronic illnesses and disability poor quality housing

Small Towns and Rural Areas Rural Focus Appalachian culture self-reliance/distrust of the system resilience fatalism kinship care patriotism folk medicine

Small Towns and Rural Areas Mountain State Partnership Program  Focuses on training geriatric specialists in small towns and rural areas rural geriatric competencies rural rotations gero certificate program with rural gero course ( Summer Institute on Aging course/conference (

Small Towns and Rural Areas Challenges geographic spread of the students and agencies limited # of placements and FIs with MSWs fewer large health care organizations/limited # of settings for internal rotations limited # of faculty working on the MSPP limited resources for stipends and other incentives

Small Towns and Rural Areas Opportunities small, tightly connected state/service community interdisciplinary connections (both academic and community) other gero projects/programs (started with HPPAE and led to BEL, CDI, GEC, & Gero Certificate Program)

Small Towns and Rural Areas Our best advice “Make gero a priority…build it and they will come”

Small Towns and Rural Areas Questions