Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC)

New England GRECC

• Innovative support and care coordination for aging Veterans
• Risk Identification across the lifespan
• Novel treatments to optimize well-being and independence

• Bedford VA
• Alzheimer disease, including identification for biomarkers for drug development.
• Use of telehealth and technology in geriatrics.
• CLC quality and quality improvement.
• Improving multidisciplinary care for aging Veterans with complex needs.
• Increasing activity engagement to support independence in older Veterans
• Bedford GRECC
• Boston VA
• Preventive rehabilitation that enhances therapeutic success and improves mobility.
• Fraility, cardiac and kidney diseases.     
• Developing approaches to assessing “What Matters Most” to improve age-friendly health care.
• Translational research for TBI and Stress Disorder: Lifespan analysis of the neurobiological effects of deployment trauma.
• Pharmacy driven medication reconciliation to identify cognitive impairment.
• Links between cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
• Pragmatic Evaluation of Events and Benefits of Lipid-Lowering in Older Adults (PREVENTABLE) Trial.

• Bedford and Boston VA

• Education and Resources for clinicians and caregivers of Veterans with dementia including caregiver videos, home safety, and a survival guide.
• Videos and resources to help older Veterans have meaningful conversations with clinicians about "What Matters Most".
• Telehealth education and resources for clinicians working in geriatrics.

• Bedford VA
• Training in video telehealth for multi-disciplinary health care trainees
• Developing educational resources such as videos and a survival guide for dementia family caregivers, funded by the VA Office of Rural Health
• Development and Evaluation of a Clinician-Vetted Dementia Caregiver Resources Website: Mixed Methods Approach 
• Boston VA
• Harvard Medical School Geriatrics education: Age Friendly Toolkit
• Developing educational videos, podcasts, and handouts for late life PTSD, funded by the VA Office of Rural Health

• Bedford and Boston VA
• Implementation of the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative
• Implementation of Patient Priorities Care
• Bedford VA
• Family and Caregiver Telemedicine Clinic: video-into-home dementia management clinic with synchronous participation of multiple family members
• Tele-Neuropsychology Clinic: geriatric neuropsychological evaluation services to rural VA medical centers and community-based outpatient clinics
• Assessing Circumstances and Offering Resources for Needs (ACORN): implementing and evaluating health-related social needs screening in VHA clinic settings
• Boston VA
• Transitions of Care Programs: Coordinated Transitional Care (C-TraC), Hospital-in-Home, Discharge Medication Reconciliation and “Meds to Beds”
• Enhancing quality of provider prescribing for older adults in the emergency department (EQUIPPED)
• Geriatric Renal, Cardiology, Oncology and Capacity Clinic evaluate novel approaches to geriatric-informed care
• Live Long, Walk Strong and Gerofit provide physical therapy and supervised fitness activities focused on Mobility and secondary preventative care
• Innovative clinic informed by geriatric principles to design care for aging Veterans with PTSD, brain injury and psychosocial complexity
• Age Friendly 4Ms Toolkit
• VA-Frailty Index and eFrailty tool

• An innovative rehabilitation program for the veterans affairs post-acute skilled nursing setting: Preliminary results J Am Geriatr Soc  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36637796/
• Adaptation of a social risk screening and referral initiative across clinical populations, settings, and contexts in the Department of Veterans Affairs Front Health Serv https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36925883/
• Bringing Age-Friendly care to the wards: A feasibility study implementing a 4Ms Bundle J Am Geriatr Soc https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37596886/ 
• What matters most to older adults: Racial and ethnic considerations in values for current healthcare planning J Am Geriatr Soc https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37528798/
• Coordinated-Transitional Care (C-TraC) for Veterans from Subacute Rehabilitation to Home J Am Med Dir Assoc https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37302797/
• Behavioral Activation: Values-Aligned Activity Engagement as a Transdiagnostic Intervention for Common Geriatric Conditions Gerontologist https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37068017/
• eFrailty: Making frailty assessment accessible to clinicians and researchers J Am Geriatr Soc https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39134464/

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