UW’s Wyoming Center on Aging awarded $5M grant to expand needs for older adults in the Cowboy State

The University of Wyoming has announced that their Department of Psychology’s Wyoming Center on Aging (WyCOA) has been awarded a $5 million grant that will be used to enhance partnerships to expand and strengthen geriatrics education for the health care workforce and to expand resources for the state’s older adults and caregivers.

According to UW Director of Institutional Communications Chad Baldwin, the Health Resources and Services Administration awarded the funding through the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP). The five-year grant is led by WyCOA Director Christine McKibbin and Associate Director Catherine Carrico, both in the Department of Psychology in UW’s College of Arts and Sciences.

C. Baldwin

According to a report by USA Facts on state population changes from 2010-2021, the Cowboy State’s total population grew 2.5% to 581,348 people. For comparison, growth in the U.S. as a whole during that time was 7.3%. 

The 65 years and older group was the fastest growing age group from 2010-2021 with an increase of over 47%. In 2010, only 12.5% of the Wyoming population was 65 or older; in 2021, this age group grew to more than 16%.

The GWEP educates and trains the health care workforce and family caregivers to care for older adults by collaborating with community partners.

According to UW, these partners include the Ivinson Medical Group, UW’s Division of Graduate Medical Education, Wind River Family and Community Health Care, Eastern Shoshone Tribal Health, Morning Star Care Center in Fort Washakie, the UW School of Nursing, the Central Wyoming College Nursing Program and the Wyoming Aging and Disability Resource Center.

The Wyoming Department of Health Aging Division predicts that, from 2016 to 2030, the number of Wyoming citizens aged 65 or older is expected to grow from approximately 90,000 to 138,000 — a 56% increase. Wyoming’s entire population is expected to increase by less than 12% during that time, with most of the growth coming from an older adult population.

To learn more about the GWEP partnership and the work of WyCOA, click here.