Dr. Harleah (Leah) Buck, PhD, RN, FPCN, FAHA, FAAN was appointed the Sally Mathis Hartwig Professorship earlier this year after a long-standing career in gerontological research. This professorship supports a nursing scholar who has a distinguished program of gerontological research evaluating the effects of nursing interventions for older adults. This opportunity also appoints Dr. Buck as the incoming Director for the Barbara and Richard Csomay Center for Gerontological Nursing.

Dr. Harleah Buck, PhD, RN, FPCN, FAHA, FAAN brings more than three decades of nursing experience, the first 20 years focused on the clinical care of older adults and the last 12 focused on research and teaching. Her national and international contributions include serving as a thought leader in the care of older adults with heart failure and their family caregivers in community settings. Dr. Buck is also a Fellow in Palliative Care Nursing. She brings a significant amount of expertise related to interprofessional collaboration to advance team science and an extremely successful record of funding (NIH, NSF, foundations), scholarship and mentoring students. She has over 70 publications and is frequently sought out to serve on national and international editorial boards and committees. She has also received numerous awards and honors for her work and contributions. Dr. Buck comes to us from the University of South Florida. We are honored to have Leah at the College of Nursing and look forward to the positive impact she will have in gerontological nursing.

We are excited and pleased to announce that Kathleen (Kitty) Buckwalter, PhD, RN, FAAN was honored with the prestigious Living Legend award by the American Academy of Nursing in October 2020. Dr. Buckwalter is Professor Emerita at the University of Iowa College of Nursing and Distinguished Nurse Scientist in Aging, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center College of Nursing, and a current member of the Csomay Center leadership team. Kitty is an exceptional innovator, mentor, advocate, and researcher recognized for her health policy work and spearheading the development of the geropsychiatric nursing subspecialty. Among the first cohort of nurses to receive a Geriatric Mental Health Academic Award in 1983, Dr. Buckwalter’s decade-spanning efforts to develop and test conceptual and rural mental health models of care has led to incredible breakthroughs in treating persons living with dementia through non-pharmacological and environmental interventions. The Progressively Lowered Stress Threshold conceptual model she developed with Dr. Geri Hall, as well as interventions and training for formal and informal caregivers, has been implemented and evaluated nationally and internationally for over 30 years. Her leadership in the College of Nursing, the Iowa Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence (now Csomay Center) and the National Hartford Center all support recognition of nurses at Iowa as leaders in gerontological education, research and practice at the University of Iowa and nationwide.

In addition to receiving "Living Legend" status in 2020, Kitty and her family are recipients of the University of Iowa Family Spirit Award. The award recognizes a family of at least three generations of University of Iowa graduates, who advance efforts towards bettering the state of Iowa.

The Csomay Center would like to give a big shoutout to our community partner Oaknoll Retirement Residence their efforts towards keeping the community safe from COVID-19. Their hard work has led to Oaknoll becoming the only training "hub" in Iowa for the AHRQ ECHO National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network.

The Network was created to provide nursing homes with training and mentorship aimed to promote evidence-based safety practices to protect residents and staff. The training consists of a 16-week program using curriculum developed by IHI, that focuses on achieving 6 primary goals (shown on the left).

Currently, Kim Bergen-Jackson, Hub Facilitator and Adjunct Faculty at Oaknoll, is offering training sessions to almost 120 nursing homes. This effort is just one of many Oaknoll has taken to ensure our community residents' safety during this challenging time. Thank you!

The Csomay Center and Iowa Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program leaders are pleased to announce that a training series about Age-Friendly Healthcare, also called the 4Ms, is now available online. The free and easily accessible series provides an overview of the 4Ms, along with a deeper look at each “M”: What Matters most, Medications, Mobility and Mentation that includes Dementia, Delirium and Depression. The content follows ideas presented by the sponsors of the national social movement: the Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The goal is to help health providers address older adults’ care using the 4Ms framework, AND also help older people and their families understand what they should expect in care. The framework starts with understanding What Matters most to the older person, and then examines how their Medications, level of Mobility, and Mentation may interact to support those goals – or keep them from achieving them. The value-driven approach to decision-making is person first and relevant to all care settings, from home health to acute care settings. We invite providers and older people alike to view our training at here and also access more information at the IHI about transforming health care to be truly Age-Friendly. The 8-part series is also being offered for continuing education credit through the Geriatric Lecture Series at the Iowa Geriatric Education Center.

It is with a sad heart that we note the passing of a gerontological nursing legend, Meridean Leone Maas, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor Emerita, College of Nursing, the University of Iowa (UI). Meridean, 86, died on November 13, 2020. She was a very strong, supportive and loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend. Meridean was an empathic advocate, passionate educator and beloved mentor. She believed goals could be met and potential reached with the appropriate support and hard work.

Meridean served as a nurse leader at the Iowa Veterans Home (IVH) in Marshalltown, Iowa where she implemented an innovative model of nurse autonomy, was awarded the first HRSA grant to a non-academic institution, and developed and evaluated a special care unit for veterans’ living with dementia. She joined the UI College of Nursing faculty in 1983 where she was the Director of the Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence, Co-PI of the Iowa Geriatric Education Center, and Co-Director of the Gerontological Nursing Interventions Research Center. Her funded programs of research included the Family Involvement in Dementia Care intervention; nursing outcomes classification research to develop, classify and validate patient outcomes sensitive to nursing interventions; and assessing the cost effectiveness of nursing interventions on outcomes for older persons. Dr. Maas mentored many doctoral students and fellows, and published journal articles, book chapters, and books. Dr. Maas received many professional honors including the Regents Award for Faculty Excellence at the UI and the Outstanding Gerontological Nurse Researcher Award from National Gerontological Nursing Association. Recognition for her professional career culminated with being named an American Academy of Nursing Living Legend.

Meridean is remembered by her many friends and colleagues as, “a great lady, nurse, leader, visionary”; “honest and passionate about her work”; “a true legend”; “a force”; “generous with her time and knowledge”; “an amazing woman”. She touched many lives and made them better. She influenced the field of gerontological nursing and made it better. There will never be another like her.

It's that time of year to roll up your sleeves and celebrate National Influenza Vaccination Week by getting your annual flu shot. This year, it's more important than ever to protect yourself and your loved ones from the flu. Visit vaccinefinder.org/ to find the vaccination location nearest you.

Geriatric Pain

GeriatricPain.org provides clinicians, patients, and family caregivers with free quality resources focused on identifying and managing pain in older adults. Check out our updated Family Caregivers section with resources to support you and your loved ones during the holidays.

Please visit GeriatricPain.org

Family Involvement in Care

Do you work with family members of persons living with dementia? Or educate staff working in care settings that support persons with dementia and their caregivers? If so, check out the free training that is based on the Family Involvement of Dementia Care Evidence-Based Guideline©. Two companion training series, one for family members and the other of staff caregivers, offer guidance about best practices for involving family in dementia care. Visit our website for more information. Questions? Contact Csomay-Center@uiowa.edu.

The Csomay Center welcomes the opportunity to share news from our community-based partners and readers. If you have a story, information about upcoming events, or news that you want to pass along to other, please do send to us! Send the information tor Ryleigh Maas (ryleigh-maas@uiowa.edu) for inclusion in an upcoming issue. And if you have any questions about the fit or timing of your news, just ask Ryleigh.