A group of UNMC employees working with Steven Bonasera, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of geriatrics, on a $10 million collaborative grant with the University of California San Francisco, felt compelled to take their work beyond the workplace.
The group, dubbed “Care Ecosystem” is conducting multiple events this month to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association, Nebraska chapter.
Care Ecosystem will host bake sales from 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. on Thursday and Friday in the Sorrell Center. The team also has an all-UNMC lineup participating in the Sept. 25 “Walk to End Alzheimer’s.”
All funds raised will go toward the Alzheimer’s Association under the donor name UNMC Care Ecosystem.
Care Ecosystem also is the name of Dr. Bonasera’s project, funded by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, which studies a model designed to improve the quality of life of both Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers.
If proven successful, Care Ecosystem will not replace clinicians, but rather will deliver to patients and their families educational resources developed over the past decade by UCSF’s Memory and Aging Center and UNMC physicians. This also will help clinicians monitor their patients.
The Alzheimer’s Association displays the UNMC/UCSF study information on its website, and UNMC utilizes Alzheimer’s Association curriculum and services.
Baked goods for the sale will be donated by Nebraska Medicine’s food and nutrition services.
To join team Care Ecosystem on the Sept. 25 walk, contact Angie Bowhay.