News Release

IU-BLOOMINGTON CENTER ON AGING AND COMMUNITY RECEIVES $94,000 GRANT FROM BAXTER INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION

Funding Supports Neighborhood Nurse Project to Serve
At-Risk Youth, Women and Seniors in Downtown Bloomington

BLOOMINGTON, Ind., February 19, 2003 - The Baxter International Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Baxter International Inc., has awarded a two-year, $94,000 grant to the Center on Aging and Community at Indiana University, Bloomington. The university will launch an innovative Neighborhood Nurse project to improve the health status and health literacy of at-risk youth, women in transition and frail seniors who live, work and play in Bloomington's Third Street Park neighborhood. A family nurse practitioner will oversee the project. Senior nursing students from the Indiana University School of Nursing will serve as volunteers and will get hands-on learning experiences in community settings.

"The program may potentially serve as a national model for university-community collaborations around health and well-being," said Philip B. Stafford, Ph.D., director of the Center on Aging and Community at Indiana University, Bloomington.

The Neighborhood Nurse project grew out of a research and community development project among IU and community members - known as the Evergreen Project - to create good environments for aging adults in Bloomington. Beginning in 1995, community members began to create a shared vision of a healthy environment for older adults. Some of the "design principles" they articulated included having green space, intergenerational interaction and a location accessible to services and amenities. The group identified Third Street Park as an ideal area to carry those design principles forward.

The Third Street park neighborhood is home to several current and future facilities that will be served by the Nurse project. Planning and fundraising efforts continue in anticipation of the construction of Evergreen Place, an affordable senior housing project for 35-40 seniors, that will combine new construction with the restoration of the 1924 historic Coca-Cola Bottling Plant. The site currently houses the non-profit Evergreen Institute on Elder Environments, which will serve as home base for the Neighborhood Nurse project.

Complementing some of the traditional Medicare-reimbursed services, Nurse Practitioner services will include a focus on prevention, early detection, treatment of minor illnesses, symptom management for chronic diseases, health education and referral. The neighborhood nurse will also extend services to other programs surrounding Third Street Park:

• Rise/Middle Way House is home to 86 women and children who have escaped domestic violence and are in transition. The project will offer bi-weekly discussion groups on women's health issues.
• The Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington operates in a rehabilitated Armory at the edge of the park and offers recreation and education for 500 members. The project will help children use computers to investigate health and safety issues and do health-related research projects.
• The Bloomington Adult Community Center is a resource for education, recreation, socialization, travel opportunities for more than 700 local seniors. While the center provides some health education and screening services, the neighborhood nurse will complement those activities by providing more individualized health support.

"The Baxter International Foundation is proud to support such an innovative project," said Patricia Morgan, executive director, The Baxter International Foundation. "The neighborhood nurse project improves access to health care and health education for underserved community members, while at the same time giving nursing students valuable opportunities to work with various patient populations in community settings."

As the philanthropic arm of Baxter International Inc., the Baxter International Foundation helps to increase access to health care in the United States and other countries. In 2001, foundation grants totaling $4.8 million improved access to care for children, the uninsured and the elderly, helped prevent child abuse and neglect, promoted health education, expanded education opportunities for health-care providers, and helped victims of global disasters.

Baxter International Inc. is a global medical products and services company that, through its subsidiaries, provides critical therapies for people with life-threatening conditions. Baxter employs more than 550 people in Indiana at its facilities in Bloomington and Indianapolis.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Media Contacts: Raquel Powers, Baxter, (847) 948-4557 Philip Stafford, IU, (812) 855-2163