WCU gains grant for improving advance care planning in Cherokee community
CULLOWHEE – The National Institute of Nursing Research has awarded just over $374,500 to Western Carolina University’s Department of Social Work to work in partnership with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for advance care planning with the Native American community. The project will be led by assistant professor Elizabeth Anderson and professor Turner Goins and is intended to create positive outcomes in clinical and public health practices that also are responsive to cultural values and beliefs and provide further opportunity to express and document care wishes. Advance care planning – expressing desired treatment goals and expected health outcomes, especially at the end of life – is underused among Native peoples, who as a population often experience higher prevalence of serious, life-limiting illnesses. “Our project is designed to partner with relevant tribal stakeholders to facilitate access to appropriate and community-tailored advance care planning resources to members of the Qualla Boundary community,” said Goins, the university’s Ambassador Jeanette Hyde Distinguished Professor of Gerontological Social Work in the College of Health and Human Sciences and a nationally known specialist in American Indian aging issues.