Current physical rehabilitation of stroke patients is primarily hospital centric and is directed towards Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s). However, due to economic pressures on the U.S. health care system, patients are receiving less therapy and going home without regaining the whole functionality of their body.

Current physical rehabilitation of stroke patients is primarily hospital centric and is directed towards Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s). However, due to economic pressures on the U.S. health care system, patients are receiving less therapy and going home without regaining the whole functionality of their body.

Project Summary: The justice-involved population is a vulnerable group with complex physical and behavioral health conditions. Many of these individuals cannot address their health care needs, and do not know how to access social services. A person-centered approach is needed to help them manage their health, welfare, and become self-sufficient.

Project Summary: “Comfort Measures Only” (CMO) is a medical order which is sometimes applied to guide the care of a seriously ill hospitalized patient. Though commonly used in clinical practice, and ostensibly based in shared understanding, both the limited available literature and our preliminary findings indicate that the label of CMO has unclear and inconsistent meanings across settings and providers.

Project Summary: Elderly individuals suffering from age-related cognitive or physical decline are prone to depression, sleep disturbances, and chronic stress, which can decrease their quality of life. This project will examine whether continuous measurements of physiological correlates of daily living can help elders and their caregivers to better identify and understand recurrent patterns that contribute to such negative outcomes.

Project Summary: We propose to investigate critical features in developing an “extended care-network”. The envisioned network is based upon extension of current research in the area of cyber-empathic design to the area of healthcare prognostics. Specifically, we propose to use a sensor-integrated shoe platform in conjunction with mobility tests for screening a population at-risk of falling.

For this project we have developed a syllabus for undergraduate students of any major to learn to interact with older adults in the community and gain an introductory understanding of the aging process. Students are introduced to person-centered practices and given the opportunity to interact with older adults at the Town Square for Aging in Amherst, NY.

This multi-phase project aims to both build a national network for dementia advocacy and to develop a consensus document on the needs of people living with dementia and their care partners. The reports from this project were presented at the annual meeting in July 2014 of the Advisory Council for the National Alzheimer’s Plan.

This pilot study tests the feasibility of a complex data collection process including salivary cortisol for stress, structured observation of behavior and interaction, and actigraphy for sleep patterns in residents with dementia living in a specialist dementia unit within an assisted living facility.

This randomized controlled trial is testing the motivational value of a video produced by the research team which aims to change knowledge attitudes to people with dementia and assess readiness to adopt person-centered practices.

The Town Square for Aging is an innovative community based intervention which is the first of its kind anywhere in the world. Located on the Weinberg Campus in Amherst the Town Square is facilitating the co-location and integration of health and social services for aging residents of Amherst New York.