Center for Healthy Aging

Facilities

Center for Healthy Aging, Asheville (MAHEC Campus)
• Meeting space for applied health research projects with a focus on developing "best practice" approaches to problems that impact North Carolinians
• Consumer/public library coordinated with professional information resources
• Geriatric/aging continuing education for providers and public
• Continuing Medical Education (physicians)
• Workforce shortage monitoring, interventions, and information management
• Student housing and rotation coordination
• Prevention health education courses
• Graduate medical education in primary care and research space
• Continuing education for all health disciplines
• Mental health education and intervention for healthy lifestyles
• Health science student education and internships (ABTCC, WCU, UNCA) in collaboration with regional and state partners
• Offices, laboratory, and classroom space for allied health courses, continuing education, and service projects
• Laboratory and meeting space for entrepreneurial gerontology projects
• Office, laboratory, and classroom space for expanded nursing programs (senior year, 2+2 capstone, and graduate educational programs)
• Laboratory space for nursing simulation laboratory. The laboratory, operated jointly with MAHEC, will allow expansion of all nursing programs in WNC by alleviating the shortage of clinical sites. The laboratory will also be used for continuing education of practicing professionals
• Coordination and operations of regional and community activities related to:
  • Strategic planning
  • Partnership initiatives
  • Evaluation
  • Cultural integration and leadership development
  • Support
• Promotion and coordination of health career programs
• Diversity and cultural health education

• Interdisciplinary Bachelor of Science degree program in Health Promotion (approved fall 2001) and Integrated Liberal Studies emphasis on health and wellness
• Degree program emphasis on community-based undergraduate research, internships, service-learning, promotion of healthy lifestyles, and parity achievement (specific initial areas of emphasis include student learning, research, and service in the areas of childhood obesity prevention, worksite health promotion, senior wellness, and parity achievement)
• Distinguished lecture series on wellness (prominent national health leaders regularly will engage the campus, community, health leaders, and the public in thoughtful debate on health and wellness topics)
• Host regular and ongoing innovative wellness fairs (emphasis on prevention and healthy living)
• Innovative outreach programs in partnership with other lead institutions and the greater community to promote healthy living within the region (initial areas of emphasis will include childhood obesity prevention, worksite health promotion, senior wellness, and parity achievement - opportunities for partnership-based grants, research, and demonstration projects)
• WNC Senior Wellness Institute (a collaborative between UNCA's NC Center for Creative Retirement, the UNCA Center for Health and Wellness, MAHEC, and WCU's Gerontological Sciences Center to bring information, research, and support systems for healthy living to the region's senior population)
• Outcomes-based research (UNCA students, faculty, and endowed research scholars, in collaboration with MAHEC and WCU, will study the extent to which Center for Healthy Aging initiatives are leading to healthier lifestyles and lower rates of disease among target populations within the region)
• Model wellness program for faculty, staff, and students (will build on existing program to create a unique intergenerational and multidisciplinary approach to faculty, staff, and student wellness - will serve as a national model to be replicated at other institutions)
• Student Health Services
• Counseling Center
• Community/Campus Partnerships for Health: A Demonstration and Research Initiative (lead institutions within the Center for Healthy Aging will create, study, and present a national model of effective community/campus partnerships for health)
• MAHEC large group education and training classes

• Classroom, office, and laboratory facilities to allow for expansion of accredited healthcare degree programs to meet increasing shortages of licensed healthcare professionals
  Bachelors Level:
  • Nursing (at capacity of 60 per cohort)
  • Clinical Laboratory Sciences (medical technology)
  • Health Information Management (medical records)
  • Emergency Medical Care (only BS program in NC; only distance education program in US)
  • Environmental Health (public health; on-line bioterrorism courses )
  • Nutrition and Dietetics
  • Athletic Training
  • Communications Disorders
  • Therapeutic Recreation
  Masters Level
  • Nursing (family nurse practitioner and nurse educator)
  • Physical Therapy
  • Health Services Management
  • Graduate Certificate in Gerontology
  • Minor program in Clinical Forensic Science
• Office, meeting, and teleconference space for expanding gerontology outreach programs (SAGE Institute Best Practices Award 2004)
• Research space for interdisciplinary adaptive device development and for human movement science laboratories (engineering - physical therapy initiative)
• Classroom, office, and laboratory space for proposed additional programs in allied health (occupational therapy; health systems administration; health informatics)