February 1, 2005
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER TO RECEIVE LARGEST GIFT IN UNIVERSITY'S HISTORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2005
CONTACT: Suzanna Cisneros Martinez, suzanna.martinez@ttuhsc.edu
LUBBOCK – The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center will announce a $5 million gift from Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison at 2 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 2) at the Academic Classroom Building, 3601 Fourth St. The gift, which is the largest in the history of the Health Sciences Center, will benefit the Institute for Healthy Aging, now renamed the Garrison Institute on Aging.
M. Roy Wilson, M.D., president of the Health Sciences Center, said age issues are personal to everyone.
“What we must learn about aging is while it is inevitable, as health professionals we have a responsibility to improve, not just extend the life span,” Wilson said. “With this endowment today, Mr. Garrison will help us educate future generations of health care professionals to provide the best in geriatric care and improve the quality of life for older Americans.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates in the next 10 years, 75 million baby boomers will begin to reach the age of 65. Fifty-five million people in the United States are more than 55 years of age; 34 million are more than 65 and that figure will double by 2030.
Paula Grammas, Ph.D., executive director of the Garrison Institute on Aging, said as the numbers grow with older adults, the demands on the public health system and medical and social services will grow.
“With Garrison’s support and generous gift, the institute will develop and implement comprehensive geriatric programs in education and clinical services and also recruit world-class research faculty to focus on the development of novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of age-related diseases,” Grammas said.
The Garrisons have a distinguished history of supporting initiatives involving aging and long-term care, including the 2000 establishment of the Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison Geriatric Education and Care Center, a 120-bed, five-wing teaching nursing home on the Health Sciences Center campus. The Garrison Center is a collaboration between the Health Sciences Center and Sears Methodist Retirement System Inc.
In April 2003, the Garrisons presented the first endowed professorship in the School of Nursing, the Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison Professor of Geriatric Nursing. And in June 2003, the Health Sciences Center accepted a gift of $1 million to endow the Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison Chair in Aging and an additional $500,000 to support the Institute for Healthy Aging.
“It is the goal of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center to make the Garrison Institute on Aging a source of cutting-edge education, research and care for the elderly across Texas and the nation,” Wilson said. “Through Mr. Garrison’s continued generosity, we can find better ways to keep our aging population healthy and become major participants in the quest to find answers to important research questions on Alzheimer’s and other age-related diseases.”
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February 1, 2005
CONTACT: Suzanna Cisneros Martinez, suzanna.martinez@ttuhsc.edu
LUBBOCK – The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center will announce a $5 million gift from Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison at 2 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 2) at the Academic Classroom Building, 3601 Fourth St. The gift, which is the largest in the history of the Health Sciences Center, will benefit the Institute for Healthy Aging, now renamed the Garrison Institute on Aging.
M. Roy Wilson, M.D., president of the Health Sciences Center, said age issues are personal to everyone.
“What we must learn about aging is while it is inevitable, as health professionals we have a responsibility to improve, not just extend the life span,” Wilson said. “With this endowment today, Mr. Garrison will help us educate future generations of health care professionals to provide the best in geriatric care and improve the quality of life for older Americans.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates in the next 10 years, 75 million baby boomers will begin to reach the age of 65. Fifty-five million people in the United States are more than 55 years of age; 34 million are more than 65 and that figure will double by 2030.
Paula Grammas, Ph.D., executive director of the Garrison Institute on Aging, said as the numbers grow with older adults, the demands on the public health system and medical and social services will grow.
“With Garrison’s support and generous gift, the institute will develop and implement comprehensive geriatric programs in education and clinical services and also recruit world-class research faculty to focus on the development of novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of age-related diseases,” Grammas said.
The Garrisons have a distinguished history of supporting initiatives involving aging and long-term care, including the 2000 establishment of the Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison Geriatric Education and Care Center, a 120-bed, five-wing teaching nursing home on the Health Sciences Center campus. The Garrison Center is a collaboration between the Health Sciences Center and Sears Methodist Retirement System Inc.
In April 2003, the Garrisons presented the first endowed professorship in the School of Nursing, the Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison Professor of Geriatric Nursing. And in June 2003, the Health Sciences Center accepted a gift of $1 million to endow the Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison Chair in Aging and an additional $500,000 to support the Institute for Healthy Aging.
“It is the goal of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center to make the Garrison Institute on Aging a source of cutting-edge education, research and care for the elderly across Texas and the nation,” Wilson said. “Through Mr. Garrison’s continued generosity, we can find better ways to keep our aging population healthy and become major participants in the quest to find answers to important research questions on Alzheimer’s and other age-related diseases.”
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