An Important Message from GEDC
Colleagues,
These are indeed challenging times for all of us. While patients of all ages are at risk for infection with COVID – 19, older adults continue to be the most vulnerable in your communities.
The Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative (GEDC) is committed to providing health care providers with the resources they need to provide the best possible care for older adults in the ED, and this public health crisis has heightened the urgency of our mission. We want to stress the critical importance of improving ED care for older adults right now, both for older adults with COVID-19 and for older adults with many other health-related conditions requiring emergency care.
GEDC will work to continue to provide the most up to date resources for nurses, doctors, and other clinicians serving older adults in the ED. Please share and disseminate widely.
Finally, please check CDC, state and local health department updates at least daily. Everything is changing rapidly.
Stay safe and reach out (virtually) to the most vulnerable in your communities. We will walk through this together.
In solidarity,
Ula Hwang and Kevin Beise, Co-PIs
On behalf of the GEDC Team
Dr. Ula Hwang is the Medical Director for Geriatric Emergency Medicine at New York University and a core investigator at the GRECC (Geriatrics Research, Education and Clinical Center) at the James J. Peters Bronx VAMC. Her research focuses on improving the quality of care older adults receive in the ED setting that ranges from observational studies of analgesic safety and effectiveness in older patients to multi-center implementation science studies of geriatric emergency care interventions. Hwang currently co-PIs the Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative and is the PI on the Geriatric Emergency care Applied Research (GEAR) network.
Dr. Kevin Biese serves as an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine (EM) and Internal Medicine, Vice-Chair of Academic Affairs, and Co-Director of the Division of Geriatrics Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine as well as a consultant with West Health. With the support of the John A. Hartford and West Health Foundations, and alongside Dr. Ula Hwang, he serves as Co-PI of the national Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative. He is grateful to chair the first Board of Governors for the ACEP Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation Program. His passion is for improved education and systems of care for older adults, and he has published multiple materials in both these areas.