Beeber Receives Grant to Continue Carol Woods Project

The School of Nursing is pleased to announce that the Carol Woods Retirement Community, located in Chapel Hill, NC, has donated $10,000 to help fund an ongoing, collaborative project between the School and Carol Woods community aimed at improving the quality of care in long-term care settings and increasing the workforce of geriatric and long-term care nursing experts.

Under the direction of Associate Professor Anna Beeber, PhD, RN, the project will provide an intraprofessional educational experience for nursing students at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. The goal is to develop a protocol to help Carol Woods staff work with residents and their families on the management of chronic pain.

“Given the aging of the population, it is incredibly important to provide students with experiences across the care continuum, including long-term care settings,” said Beeber.

Dr. Beeber and Associate Professor Meg Zomorodi, PhD, CNL, RN initially proposed the project for funding to the North Carolina Area Education Health Centers (AHEC) last spring, and their proposal was approved and funded in May, 2016. Funding for the project will continue until June 30, 2017. The funds donated from Carol Woods will further support this effort.

Since the project began last July, students and nursing leaders have been collaborating with leaders at the Carol Woods Retirement Community to improve the quality of chronic pain management for the community’s residents.

Beeber says the project has formalized an ongoing relationship between the School of Nursing and the Carol Woods Retirement Community, and that the generous donation from Carol Woods will further support the initiative.

“This funding represents an investment in an innovative mentorship model that will inspire students at the BSN, MSN, DNP, and PhD levels to be leaders in gerontological nursing,” said Beeber. “I am so grateful for the funding from AHEC and the Carol Woods Charitable board, and the investment in this new partnership between Carol Woods Retirement Community and the UNC School of Nursing. I look forward to seeing what the future holds.”