Pathology professor Jyotsna Pandey described a project she developed to improve learning for students in the College of Medicine while also serving a purpose in the Mount Pleasant community.

Pandey discussed her project with community members March 19 at Camille’s on the River in a Central Talk titled: “Healthy Aging and Aging in Place: A CMU Perspective.”

Pandey’s presentation was part of the CMU Central Talks series. The series was created to celebrate 125 years of CMU. Jon Humiston, special assistant to the provost, and Kyle Pybus-Jerome, the ceremonies and events coordinator, are part of the 125th Anniversary Planning Committee, which came up with the idea for Central Talks.

“We wanted to extend our celebration on campus to the rest of the community,” Humiston said. “Instead of the community having to come to us, we wanted to bring these talks to the folks in town.”

Pybus-Jerome said the committee wanted more involvement from the community and also wanted to highlight the research faculty members are doing.

“We wanted to bring topics that are critical to this area, to this area,” Humiston said.

When Pandey joined the College of Medicine faculty at Central Michigan University, she was tasked with developing an interprofessional education program for students in the College of Medicine.

Pandey said she was inspired by the connection between the college of medicine and the Mount Pleasant community, so she decided to develop a project that could train students to work interprofessionally, while also taking advantage of the relationship between CMU and the Mount Pleasant Community.

The Healthy Aging Home Visit Project was the result.

The College of Medicine partnered with the Commission on Aging in Gratiot, Clare and Isabella counties.

“A lot of times healthy aging is accredited to absence of disease. It’s really not,” Pandey said. “Healthy aging is about making the body wear and tear slow down.”

Pandey said the key to healthy aging is wellness and preventative care. She talked about health risks that increase with age which can be prevented. These risks include depression, falls, and social isolation and loneliness.

“The three are connected,” Pandey said. “Isolation and loneliness can cause depression; depression is a risk factor for fall; and that first fall increases the risk for a second fall. If there is a fall, the risk of something going wrong increases tremendously.”

Pandey also talked about barriers to getting preventative care for older adults. These include finance, distance and trained healthcare professionals. Those who cannot afford healthcare or can’t access healthcare are less likely to get the preventative care they need to live a long, healthy life. There is also a lack of healthcare professionals with knowledge and exposure to geriatric medicine. She said the reasoning for this shortage is because most students don’t have exposure to geriatrics, so they don’t think to go into geriatric medicine.

The Healthy Aging Home Visit Project was created to break down these barriers and improve preventative healthcare for older adults in the community.

The project involved creating a team of students from different programs in the College of Medicine and College of Health Professions. Pandey wanted students from medicine, physician assistant, physical therapy, audiology, social work and many more programs to get involved in this project. This way, students from all specialties get experience in geriatric medicine.

These students, joined by a healthcare professional will visit the homes of older adults in Gratiot, Clare and Isabella counties to provide free check-ups and information on increasing wellness. This will eliminate both the finance and distance barriers.

“It’s a win-win situation for both sides,” Pandey said. “Older adults get free annual preventative healthcare from a home visit and it’s going to shape (students) into better primary care physicians because they are learning now to sit down and listen to their patients.”

Pandey said the project received $442,000 from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.

“Healthy aging is an investment in the future of society,” Pandey said. “We live longer, we spend time with our family, our family is happier. That makes the family better, that makes the society better, that makes community better, that makes the country better, and in the end, it makes the world a better place to live.”

Pandey said the project is still in the planning phase. Home visits will start in August. These home visits will be part of a study to see how this type of healthcare affects aging adults and the learning outcomes of students in health-related programs.