CNY groups studying aging, frailty with federal grant

SYRACUSE — Four Syracuse organizations are working on a research project focusing on frailty issues in Central New York.

The groups are using a federal grant to fund their effort.

The nonprofit Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has awarded F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse a grant of nearly $15,000.

F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse will work with HealtheConnections, the Southwest Community Center, and Upstate Medical University to develop a Central New York 

Citizen’s Aging Research & Action Network (CNY-CAN).

The nonprofit F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse is a “citizen-driven” organization that works to impact change in Central New York.  F.O.C.U.S. is short for forging our community’s united strength, according to its website.

HealtheConnections (pronounced Healthy Connections) is a nonprofit that supports “the meaningful use of health information exchange and technology adoption, and the use of community health data and best practices, to enable Central New York stakeholders to transform and improve patient care, improve the health of populations and lower health-care costs,” according to its website.

The four organizations will use the funding to “build a partnership of individuals and groups who share a desire to advance patient-centered outcomes research focused on frailty across the life course,” according to a news release.

They announced the grant and the research initiative on May 12 at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse.

“What we’re going to do is engage people with conversations. We’re going to go out into various aspects of Onondaga County and have conversations with older adults to find out what their concerns are and how we can keep them in their own home,” Dr. Sharon Brangman, professor of medicine and division chief of geriatric medicine at Upstate Medical University, said in her remarks at the event.

The groups learned they had won the grant about a month ago, Brangman told CNYBJ in an interview following the presentation. 

“We looked at it in the beginning of the year and began identifying groups that might be helpful in community engagement because this is a grant that really works at getting average citizens … involved from the beginning,” says Brangman. 

PCORI’s Pipeline to Proposal Awards program provided the grant funding. Pipeline to Proposal Awards enable individuals and groups that are not typically involved in clinical research to develop community-led funding proposals focused on “patient-centered comparative effective research (CER),” according to the release. 

CNY-CAN’s vision is to create a coalition of citizens, patients, formal and informal caregivers, clinicians, researchers, and health systems to “guide” aging-related research; participate in research and project teams; “be champions” for patient-centered research; help translate research into practice; and help sustain CNY-CAN as a community resource, the release stated.

Under the Tier I award, CNY-CAN’s initial stakeholders will become educated on patient-centered outcomes research and best practices; learn about research in which CNY-CAN could be engaged; and create a strategic plan defining CNY-CAN’s vision, mission, priorities, structure, governance, and operational policies.

It’s an opportunity for citizens to have an “impact” on public policy, Charlotte (Chuckie) Holstein, executive director of F.O.C.U.S Greater Syracuse, said in her remarks at the May 12 announcement.

“Wherever our medical or health-care research goes, for the frail elderly, we’ll also have an impact on public policy, so we were very delighted with that,” Holstein said.

If the groups are successful in the grant’s first year, then it will become a three-year contract, said Holstein. 

F.O.C.U.S Greater Syracuse will serve as the lead agency during the first two years, and Upstate Medical University will serve in the same role during the third year, Holstein said. 

Washington, D.C.–based PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization that Congress in 2010 authorized to fund CER “that will provide patients, their caregivers, and clinicians with the evidence needed to make better-informed health and health-care decisions,” according to the news release.

Congress authorized the establishment of PCORI in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, according to the PCORI website.         

SYRACUSE — Four Syracuse organizations are working on a research project focusing on frailty issues in Central New York.

The groups are using a federal grant to fund their effort.

The nonprofit Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has awarded F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse a grant of nearly $15,000.

F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse will work with HealtheConnections, the Southwest Community Center, and Upstate Medical University to develop a Central New York 

Citizen’s Aging Research & Action Network (CNY-CAN).

The nonprofit F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse is a “citizen-driven” organization that works to impact change in Central New York.  F.O.C.U.S. is short for forging our community’s united strength, according to its website.

HealtheConnections (pronounced Healthy Connections) is a nonprofit that supports “the meaningful use of health information exchange and technology adoption, and the use of community health data and best practices, to enable Central New York stakeholders to transform and improve patient care, improve the health of populations and lower health-care costs,” according to its website.

The four organizations will use the funding to “build a partnership of individuals and groups who share a desire to advance patient-centered outcomes research focused on frailty across the life course,” according to a news release.

They announced the grant and the research initiative on May 12 at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse.

“What we’re going to do is engage people with conversations. We’re going to go out into various aspects of Onondaga County and have conversations with older adults to find out what their concerns are and how we can keep them in their own home,” Dr. Sharon Brangman, professor of medicine and division chief of geriatric medicine at Upstate Medical University, said in her remarks at the event.

The groups learned they had won the grant about a month ago, Brangman told CNYBJ in an interview following the presentation. 

“We looked at it in the beginning of the year and began identifying groups that might be helpful in community engagement because this is a grant that really works at getting average citizens … involved from the beginning,” says Brangman. 

PCORI’s Pipeline to Proposal Awards program provided the grant funding. Pipeline to Proposal Awards enable individuals and groups that are not typically involved in clinical research to develop community-led funding proposals focused on “patient-centered comparative effective research (CER),” according to the release. 

CNY-CAN’s vision is to create a coalition of citizens, patients, formal and informal caregivers, clinicians, researchers, and health systems to “guide” aging-related research; participate in research and project teams; “be champions” for patient-centered research; help translate research into practice; and help sustain CNY-CAN as a community resource, the release stated.

Under the Tier I award, CNY-CAN’s initial stakeholders will become educated on patient-centered outcomes research and best practices; learn about research in which CNY-CAN could be engaged; and create a strategic plan defining CNY-CAN’s vision, mission, priorities, structure, governance, and operational policies.

It’s an opportunity for citizens to have an “impact” on public policy, Charlotte (Chuckie) Holstein, executive director of F.O.C.U.S Greater Syracuse, said in her remarks at the May 12 announcement.

“Wherever our medical or health-care research goes, for the frail elderly, we’ll also have an impact on public policy, so we were very delighted with that,” Holstein said.

If the groups are successful in the grant’s first year, then it will become a three-year contract, said Holstein. 

F.O.C.U.S Greater Syracuse will serve as the lead agency during the first two years, and Upstate Medical University will serve in the same role during the third year, Holstein said. 

Washington, D.C.–based PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization that Congress in 2010 authorized to fund CER “that will provide patients, their caregivers, and clinicians with the evidence needed to make better-informed health and health-care decisions,” according to the news release.

Congress authorized the establishment of PCORI in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, according to the PCORI website.