Caldwell University Students Will Help Senior Citizens Using $13K Grant

CALDWELL, NJ — Caldwell University was one of 21 institutions across the nation chosen by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) to receive a grant of about $13,000 to implement an “Intergenerational Connections: Students Serving Older Adults” program.

According to a news release from the college, the one-year grant will be used to “enhance connections between undergraduate students and older adults in the community.”

CIC launched the new initiative with support from the AARP Foundation to encourage colleges to create or extend programs in which students help low-income older adults (ages 50 and older) tackle key life challenges, Caldwell University stated.

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Caldwells Facebook page here.

“CIC hopes that this pilot project will serve as a first step toward the development of a national network of programs on independent college and university campuses that promote intergenerational interaction between students and community members,” President Richard Ekman said.

The 21 selected colleges and universities will be part of a new network of colleges that the AARP Foundation hopes will help establish best practices for engaging students in meeting the challenges of older adults—hunger, safe and affordable housing, income-generation, and social isolation—in the communities surrounding college campuses.

Caldwell University is using the grant to develop its Community Telehealth Program, designed to help older adults overcome the barriers in adoption of technology and to reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation, said Brenda Petersen, chair of the Public Health Department.

Students in the undergraduate bachelor’s in Public Health Education Program will engage with older adults providing assistance and teaching in accessing and using digital devices, providing instruction on safety and privacy on the internet, and helping this population learn how to use online resources and social media, according to Petersen.

“Through our partnership with an independent living facility in our community we are excited about the opportunity to advance our undergraduate Public Health Education students’ use of telehealth while providing connections to older adults in our community,” Petersen said. “Our goal through this intergenerational connections grant is to promote the health of older adults through the use of telehealth and to create a national model that can be replicated by other schools and universities.”

More information about the project and the participating institutions is available on the CIC website at www.cic.edu/programs/intergenerational-connections.

Send local news tips, photos and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Photo: Shutterstock