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Tools for Transformation Funded Proposals

Legacy House

School of Pharmacy

This proposal will develop a partnership with Legacy House to further experiential learning and research opportunities for students in Pharmacy. Legacy House is a new residence facility that incorporates subsidized independent living and assisted living apartments, day health and meal programs for ethnic elderly people. The School of Pharmacy joins other UW Schools in multidisciplinary, community-based teaching and research activities at Legacy House; funds would temporarily support a faculty member who would initiate and manage pharmacy-related research projects, ensure accurate identification of medication, and oversee research done by students.

Contact: Sidney Nelson
Dean, School of Pharmacy
sidnels@u.washington.edu

Dr. Jackie Gardner
Associate Professor, Pharmacy
jsgardne@u.washington.edu

Allocation: $67,743
Date Funded: September 1998

PROGRESS REPORT

Upon receiving support for a faculty position to be based at Legacy House in the International District, our first priority became the recruitment of a pharmacist who was at least bilingual in one of the Chinese languages. Because that would take some time, we arranged with the International Community Health Services Clinic to secund their pharmacist as a preceptor for our first students at Legacy House. While the pharmacist was not bilingual, the students were, and the program was launched in September, 1998, with the first PharmD student on experiential rotation. Recruitment of Dr. Annie Lam was accomplished in December, 1998.

Since the opening of Legacy House and the continuous presence of a Pharmacy School faculty member in the community, five fourth-year students have completed eight-week experiential rotations and four second- and third-year students have enrolled in special projects associated with the senior nutritional programs, both on-site at Bush Hotel and in the residences of frail elderly people who receive home-delivered meals under the program. For the academic year 1999-2000, eight fourth-year students have registered for experiential rotation at Legacy House. Regularly scheduled educational programs have been established for Adult Day Health participants in which students, Dr Lam, or visiting faculty provide information about medication use and effects. Links have been forged with faculty of the School of Social Work for placement of their students in internships with Legacy House social workers. In addition, we have facilitated the involvement of dental hygiene students from Lake Washington Technical College in the educational programs, and have initiated plans for regular dental hygiene student and faculty visits to residents for oral hygiene education, assessment, and intervention.

To date, no funded research projects have been implemented at Legacy House. Data are being collected systematically on interventions and outcomes documented in the course of student and faculty clinical and community activities, including information on the use of Chinese herbal medications. A proposal has been submitted to the Elmer M. Plein Endowed Research Fund in Pharmacy to initiate student screening and interventions for osteoporosis in this population. In the January NIH proposal cycle, these data all will be used as preliminary studies for an interdisciplinary proposal in response to the RFA, "Diversity in Medication Use and Outcomes in Aging Populations." Proposal collaborators will include staff of Legacy House and the International Community Health Services Clinic, as well as other University departments,

The response of the International District community has been very receptive to the University's initiative.

Tools for Transformation Funded Proposals