Garrison Institute on Aging to Celebrate Ribbon Cutting and Health Fair

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2006
CONTACT: Suzanna Cisneros Martinez, suzanna.martinez@ttuhsc.edu
(806) 743-2143


LUBBOCK –The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Garrison Institute on Aging invites the West Texas community to a ribbon-cutting ceremony and Healthy Aging Fair beginning at 11 a.m. May 4 at their new facility located at 6630 S. Quaker Ave.

In 1999, the Health Sciences Center leadership identified aging as a strategic priority for the 21st century. The Board of Regents approved the establishment of the Institute for Healthy Aging to meet this strategic priority in aging. The institute was renamed in 2005, to the Garrison Institute on Aging in honor of Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison's commitment and leadership to advancing aging and Alzheimer's disease research, education, and service for West Texans.

Paula Grammas, Ph.D., executive director of the Garrison Institute on Aging, said when it comes to aging it should not be about the quantity of years in a person’s life but the quality of those years.

"This institute is committed to the issues of aging,” Grammas said. “We will continually search for ways to improve the health of older adults through research, educational opportunities for students, health care professionals and the community, and by improving geriatric health care services.”

The institute is a collaborative initiative of the four Health Sciences Center schools of Allied Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, and addresses special challenges in geriatric training and health care.

After the ribbon cutting ceremony, the Healthy Aging Fair will feature information for seniors and caregivers on local health services, programs and senior housing options. Participants will have the opportunity to benefit from tai chi and exercise demonstrations, free health screenings for grief and depression, spinal nerve damage, oxygen saturation, BMI, blood pressure and sugar and cholesterol.

Exhibitors will include: the Allegiance Behavioral Health Center, Calvert Home Health, Grand Court of Lubbock, Home Care Solutions, Home Instead Senior Care, Hospice of Lubbock, LIFE-RUN, Lubbock Family Chiropractic, the Memory Shoppe, South Haven, Texas Tech Senior Trails Project and UMC Health Systems and Seniors are Special, and VistaCare.

The health fair also is sponsored by Home Instead Senior Care, Home Care Solutions of Lubbock Inc, and VistaCare.

Mark McDougal, mayor of Lubbock, will proclaim this day “Mildred and Shirley Garrison Day” in Lubbock, in hopes of urging all seniors, health care professionals and West Texans to show their commitment to supporting the Garrison Institute on Aging and its efforts to creating a more promising, healthy future for the aged.

For more information, contact Sheilah Patridge, Garrison Institute on Aging, at (806) 743-7821.