Kudos for your efforts with the Gerontological Society of America. "The Challenge to Come: The Care of Older Adults" (August) is an excellent overview of trends in caring for the aging. The lack of expertise in nursing faculty threatens our ability to prepare nurses to care for the growing number of older U.S. adults. In 2002 the Health Resources and Services Association funded four innovative models for faculty development in gerontology to help meet this need:
* the Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging's partnership with Rush University, where I am on the faculty, and the University of Wisconsin to create a training network for faculty through six continuing education Web courses, an annual one-day intensive workshop, and interdisciplinary clinical training
* the University of Arkansas's 432-contact hour continuing education program, which combines onsite and Web-based formats
* the University of Texas's four-and-a-half day intensive course (that includes Web-based educational activities) combined with an annual "virtual gerontological nursing conference"
* the model of using technology such as computers, personal digital assistants, and teleconferencing at the Mountain Area Health Education Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
When I received my August issue of AJN, all I could say was, "It's about time." I am so pleased to see you focus on the aging population. Having worked for more than 10 years in nursing homes, I am at a loss to understand how gerontologic nursing gets so little attention. It's a wonderful field. I wouldn't trade it for any other specialty. At the same time, not a day goes by in which we don't hear, "Why are they doing that for her-look how old she is" or "What a waste of money-he's not worth it." How very, very sad that people don't realize this could be their grandmother, their father, or even they themselves. I would venture to guess that if they did, they would want everything done to make an older adult feel better.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt's cabinet created the Social Security Administration during the Great Depression, they felt quite confident that the new federal agency could easily subsidize the retirement of every U.S. citizen for countless generations to come-if everyone retired at age 65. That's because the average life expectancy was then 62 years. If the agency were established today, Americans would be retiring at 80; the average life expectancy today is 77 years.
Karen V. Lamb, ND, APRN, BC
Evanston, IL
Jane Rogers, RN
Cheboygan, MI
Cynthia Frozena, MSN, RN
Manitowoc, WI