About Us

The Utah Geriatric Education Consortium (UGEC) was established in July, 2015 in order to improve long term healthcare through the education of the workforce providing associated services. This includes the health professionals attending the University of Utah and those providing long term care throughout Utah. A secondary purpose of the program is to increase understanding amongst the aforementioned groups and the community in general.

UGEC was established in collaboration with the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) and is funded by the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) initiative, which focuses on improving primary care and dementia care of older adults. The University of Utah is the only recipient of a GWEP grant that is focusing on long term care. Community partners include Avalon Health Care and Mission Health Services facilities throughout Utah. Health Insight, a Quality Improvement Organization in Utah, and the Alzheimer’s Association of Utah are both included in the program development and administration. The UGEC includes physician programs, nursing programs, community programs and an Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) program.The main goal of the program is to create bidirectional integration of primary care into eldercare.