Nancy Kusmaul, an assistant professor of social work, was recently selected to participate in the 2015 Hartford Change AGEnts Policy Institute. She is one of 18 scholars to be selected from a nationwide pool of highly qualified candidates. The institute takes place from June 7-9 in Washington, D.C.
As part of the program, Kusmaul will be analyzing policy issues in a collaborative environment and will work to develop strategies to leverage stakeholder support through coalitions and grassroots efforts. Topics at the institute range from federal policy and regulatory change to state and local policy work.
During the institute experience, participants will go to Capitol Hill and to other federal regulatory offices to meet with representatives. Kusmaul will be discussing improvements to nursing home regulations to make nursing home care more person-centered. She hopes to meet with Maryland Representative Elijah Cummings and Senator Barbara Mikluski while on the Hill.
“I am passionate about improving nursing home care for older adults in this country. This institute allows me to shape the policies that impact the day to day lives of the people I have worked with as a nursing home social worker and continue to work with as a social work researcher,” Kusmaul shares.
The Policy Institute is one of many opportunities offered by the interprofessional Hartford Change AGEnts Initiative. The Initiative leverages the John. A. Hartford Foundation’s powerful community—helping its scholars and grantees learn from and support one another while they adopt, evaluate, and sustain changes in practice and service delivery that improve the health of older Americans and their families.
The Hartford Change AGEnts Grant is operated out of The Gerontological Society of America. The Society is a national organization of professionals in the field of aging and is dedicated to the promotion of scientific study. It is designed to encourage exchanges among researchers and practitioners and to foster the use of gerontological research in forming public policy.
Further information about the Hartford Change AGEnts Initiative and the Policy Institute is available here.
Tags: SocialWork
