07-17-02 (Texarkana) The third of seven planned regional centers on
aging opens tomorrow in Texarkana. Called the "Texarkana Regional
Center on Aging," the new center is a collaboration of the Donald
W. Reynolds Center on Aging and the Texarkana Area Health Education
Center (AHEC) of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)
– and CHRISTUS St. Michael Health Systems of Texarkana – with
considerable involvement from the community of Texarkana.
Tobacco settlement funds are being used
to provide educational programs addressing the needs of older adults.
These centers on aging will also provide improved care to older
persons in Arkansas through Senior Health Centers – each of which is
operated as a partnership between a local hospital and the Reynolds
Center on Aging at UAMS. The centers presently opened are located in
Springdale and El Dorado. Future center sites are Jonesboro, Pine
Bluff, Helena, and Ft. Smith. All are expected to be open in less than
a year.
While tobacco settlement funds are
dedicated to the educational programs for these centers on aging, they
have leveraged additional monies from local and federal sources. UAMS
Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., said, "We continue to be
grateful to the citizens of Arkansas who voted to approve Initiated
Act I of 2000 (the Tobacco Settlement Fund). We are committed to using
these funds in collaborative efforts and finding common ground for
bringing together the Reynolds Center on Aging, the AHECs –
including the new Delta AHEC in Helena – the new UAMS College of
Public Health, and researchers who are part of the Arkansas
Biosciences Institute."
Wilson added, "Arkansas is one of
only a few states that dedicated all of its tobacco settlement funding
to health issues. This helps us achieve our goal of improving health
care for all Arkansans. Through the joint efforts of our doctors,
scientists, and public health scholars, we are reaching out to every
corner of the state."
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