UNIVERSITY UNVEILS NEW OFFICE TO EXAMINE AGING ISSUES

With start-up funds for 2 years, Professors Ro DiBrezzo and Barbara Shadden bring a decade’s worth of energy, enthusiasm, and academic inquisitiveness to fully develop the new Office for Studies on Aging. The Office, located in the HPER Building, will be the center of research and study of the physical, social and psychological aspects of the aging process and will be a catalyst for strong communication among different disciplines across campus. Though many details have yet to be determined, the co-directors are certain of one thing right off: the importance of their mission. "With the in-migration of older adults," said Dr. Shadden, "this is an important issue to face."

Some facts: In 1960, there were 3,222 Americans over the age of 100. Today, there are more than 60,000. And by the year 2020, 1 in 5 people will be over the age of 60. Last year, Arkansas had the 4^th highest percentage of elderly people in the US; and today, thousands of retirees call Northwest Arkansas their home.

Dean Stegman, who has personally backed the project since its inception, expressed his confidence in the mission of the Office for Studies in Aging and in Drs. Shadden and DiBrezzo. "The new Office for Studies on Aging represents an excellent example of the synergy between research, teaching and service that characterizes the College of Education & Health Professions," the Dean said. "The Office will support faculty research that will inform best practices. In addition, the Office will facilitate and help coordinate campus course offerings dealing with Gerontology."

Dean Collis Geren from the Graduate School has also supported the project by contributing funds for a graduate assistant assigned to support efforts in the Office.

Shadden & DiBrezzo’s shared vision is to develop a research clinic that not only helps students interested in a concentration in Gerontology through the academic process, but also to promote the value of service to the community through outreach. Because growing older is complicated by physical, emotional and sociological forces, the future concentration in Gerontology would be highly interdisciplinary.

"This office will not be just an academic unit," said Dr. DiBrezzo. "We anticipate that as we bring people together from across disciplines, we as a campus can be more visible, more accommodating and better serve the community. That’s the name of the game."

Both DiBrezzo and Shadden acknowledge large gaps in research for and about older adults. For example, studies in bone density and osteoporosis in menopausal women could be carried out in the clinic using some of the state-of-the-art equipment that the Human Performance Lab already has, like the Prodigy LUNAR machine. This machine, the first available in a four-state area and just one of a host of devices in the HPL, uses radio waves to measure the bone loss and its effect on the body. Machines like the LUNAR could be used both as a vehicle for research as well as a tool used in community outreach with visiting clients. The Office’s first study, already slated for the fall of this year, plans to examine the role and needs of caregivers to the elderly.

Shadden and DiBrezzo represent two of the many potential fields that could contribute to studies in Gerontology. Dr. Shadden, a professor of Communication Disorders, and DiBrezzo, Director of the Human Performance Lab, believe that programs like Nursing, Sociology, Counselor Education, Architecture, Biology, among many others, will want to be involved in the development of a curriculum core for studies in Gerontology.

Both professors believe that the 21^st century will find Americans facing issues of aging like never before and both hope that the health care industry will begin to address life long issues rather than quick fixes once the problem is already out of control. "Health care is not conducive to quality aging," Dr. Shadden said. "We’re living longer, but not necessarily living healthier."

Dr. Shadden has dealt with more than her fair share of issues facing older Americans. Both her father and husband have been victims of a stroke; both had to learn, along with their families, to reinvent their lives after suffering the physical and mental traumas of impairment and recovery. Dr. Shadden says that being involved in that recovery has been a tremendous and certainly eye-opening experience for her and her family.

"We should celebrate the aging process," said Dr. DiBrezzo, "learn to feel positive anticipation for it." On a more personal note, Dr. DiBrezzo expressed sadness that neither of her parents "lived to see old age." For many Americans and many Arkansans, the information generated by the new Office will be extremely important and long overdue.

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