The space features eight cooking stations where health care professionals and students will learn culinary medicine, a growing field that integrates nutrition science with practical culinary skills that can lead to improved health, including better management and prevention of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

The kitchen supports the mission of the Trager Institute/Republic Bank Foundation Optimal Aging Clinic, which is dedicated to enhancing the lives of older adults in Kentucky through innovative, age-friendly health care practices. The Culinary Medicine Kitchen, located in the institute’s East Market St. facility, will host physicians, trainees, medical students and other health care providers for hands-on demonstrations that will help them guide patients to better health through healthy eating. The kitchen also will host nutrition-focused cooking demonstrations for the community.

“This wonderful educational venue is an outstanding example of our dedication to advancing medical education and community health, reinforcing our role as a leader in integrating innovative practices into health care training,” said UofL President Gerry Bradley. “It also highlights the Trager Institute’s distinctive approach and dedication to ensuring that older adults across Kentucky receive the care and support they deserve with dignity and compassion.”

The UofL School of Medicine joins 60 other medical schools in using the American College of Culinary Medicine curriculum to train health care professionals to understand and communicate the impact of good nutrition on their patients’ health. At UofL, the kitchen will serve as a vital resource for the Schools of Medicine, Public Health and Information Sciences, Nursing, Social Work and others, supporting their mission to train future and current health care providers and advisors in the role of nutrition in patient health.

“Research shows that good nutrition not only promotes overall health and well-being but also plays a crucial role in preventing and managing chronic diseases,” said Joe D’Ambrosio, director of behavioral health at the Trager Institute. “The Culinary Medicine Kitchen will help bridge the gap between what we know about nutrition and the practice of medicine.”

The Culinary Medicine Kitchen was created with support from GE Appliances, a Haier company, which donated state-of-the-art appliances for the buildout. Features such as an overhead camera and large-screen TVs in the kitchen give learners a bird’s-eye view of techniques for engaging, informative demonstrations. Integrated technology also enables live remote classes as well video recording to create enduring resources for sharing with patients and health professionals online.

Improving health for older adults

Beyond the kitchen, new and renewed funding for workforce training and support services has allowed the Trager Institute to expand its mission to improve the quality of life for older adults across the state. The institute has increased its age and dementia-friendly care and support services, particularly in underserved and rural areas to improve care for the Kentucky’s rapidly aging population.

Last year, the institute received $5 million from the Health Resources and Services Administration through the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP), the third consecutive GWEP grant awarded to the institute, following grants in 2015 and 2019.

The new funding allowed the institute to establish FlourishCare Centers of Excellence in the , Cumberland Valley and Barren River regions of Kentucky, bringing together experts from universities, health care providers, community organizations and local governments to improve how care is provided to older adults. Their goal is to ensure health care professionals have the specialized knowledge needed to care for aging adults and to help them stay independent, maintain their dignity and improve their overall well-being.

“By connecting different systems — hospitals, nursing homes, senior care programs and government services — the centers foster a coordinated approach to health care, ensuring that older adults, including those with Alzheimer’s and other memory-related conditions receive continuous and well-organized support, whether they are at home, in a hospital or in a care facility,” said Anna Faul, executive director of the Trager Institute.

In addition, the institute’s Republic Bank Foundation Optimal Aging Clinic was selected as a UofL Health demonstration site for the (GUIDE) model by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. This national initiative is focused on improving communication between primary care providers and specialists, provides educational resources and emotional support for caregivers, offers respite care and ensures health equity for dementia patients and their families. It is provided at no cost to eligible participants.

The Trager Institute also is expanding its FlourishCare initiative that supports vulnerable older adults with diabetes, depression and dementia, as well as their caregivers thanks to a $600,000 grant over four years from the Administration for Community Living. FlourishCare services aim to improve health outcomes and access to care for those in underserved areas of Kentucky, including:

• BRI Care Consultation: Supports people with dementia and their caregivers by addressing unmet needs, reducing stress and alleviating depression
• Diabetes Self-Management Program: Empowers participants to manage their diabetes effectively
• Program to Encourage Active Rewarding Lives for Seniors: Helps older adults manage and reduce symptoms of depression

To see more images from the ribbon cutting, visit the .

Matt Willinger contributed to this story.

The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) has accredited the Behavioral Health Service Organization at Trager for three years for outpatient treatment of adults and older adults. Trager is one of only 10 organizations around the globe accredited by CARF for mental health services for older adults.

“Accreditation is a public statement that our organization strives to ensure that our services are of the highest possible quality,” said Joe D’Ambrosio, the Trager Institute’s director of behavioral health. “At Trager, we are committed to reducing risk, addressing health and safety concerns, respecting cultural and individual preferences and providing the best possible quality of care.”

Mental health is an important aspect of overall health and well-being. Losses that can occur with aging – social activity, identity and physical health – put individuals at higher risk for developing behavioral health issues. However, signs of mental illness in older adults often are overlooked or dismissed as normal symptoms of aging. Without treatment, conditions such as depression and anxiety can lead to further physical decline. Behavioral health services are provided as part of the clinic’s comprehensive care to help individuals maintain health as they age. 

In order to be CARF-accredited, programs and services must demonstrate that they conform to internationally recognized standards for service delivery and are committed to continuous quality improvement and a consumer-driven focus. CARF International is an independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human services providers in aging services, behavioral health, child and youth services, durable medical equipment, employment and community services, medical rehabilitation, opioid treatment programs and vision rehabilitation services.

“For our Trager team, accreditation demonstrates our belief that all people have the right to be treated with dignity and respect, have access to needed services that achieve optimum outcomes and are empowered to exercise informed choice,” D’Ambrosio said.

D’Ambrosio said that during Trager’s accreditation survey, the CARF surveyor commended the institute’s FlourishCare^TM service, an integrated lifelong wellness care approach focused on lifestyle and preventative medicine for adults of all ages, as well as the use of student interns and telehealth, increasing accessibility to services.

Trager’s aging services include the FlourishCare^TM assessment, care coordination, family support, medication management and education, organized education programs, end-of-life care and grief support, all available in a nationally recognized, age-friendly clinic.

“It would be impossible for us to fulfill our mission of innovating the aging experience without first ensuring the safety and health of our older adult patients and staff during the pandemic,” said Anna Faul, executive director of the Trager Institute. “This partnership with LoDI has been beneficial for us to understand what we need to do to return to normal capacity when the positivity rates are at a level that would be absolutely safe for our patients and staff.”

Through the collaboration, LoDI and Trager Institute leaders established capacity and utilization estimates to allow Trager staff to transition from telehealth and work-from-home policies to hybrid policies allowing a return to in-clinic visits for patients and location-based work for Trager students, faculty and staff.

LoDI, housed at the , is dedicated to developing innovative delivery processes for industries including manufacturing, service and health care. Students and faculty at LoDI recently worked with businesses in the oil and refinery field, a public utility and the .

For the project at the Trager Institute, a team led by Lihui Bai, co-director of LoDI, used a simulation model to determine a safe volume of traffic that allows proper social distancing at the Optimal Aging Clinic. In particular, the study team, which included Monica Gentili, Arsalan Paleshi and LoDI Fellow Shahab Sadri, simulated operations at the clinic to determine the maximum number of clinical staff, patients, faculty and students, as well as Trager faculty and staff, that safely could be present in the building.

The results of the study will serve as a guide for Trager Institute leadership in determining the percentage of clinic appointments that must be kept virtual and the number of learners and institute staff and faculty who safely could resume on-site activities. The clinic will implement the guidelines provided by the study once coronavirus infection rates in the community reach an acceptable level to resume in-person visits.

“Our study found that patient and staff movements at key common areas throughout the facility are within the safety measures of a COVID-19 environment,” Bai said. “We were happy to be a part of this collaboration by applying our simulation model to study the traffic patterns at the Optimal Aging Clinic. We look forward to extending this study to evaluate other operations measures such as utilization and possible improvements in a joint future research with the team at the Trager Institute.”

“We are grateful to the LoDI team for their expertise in helping us determine safe and efficient operating procedures at the clinic,” Faul said.

UofL President Neeli Bendapudi announced the gift at her inauguration as the university’s 18^th president on the steps of Grawemeyer Hall. The donation will enhance UofL’s Institute for Sustainable Health and Optimal Aging, which connects providers in the aging services community to resources for older adults, caregivers, businesses, service providers and researchers. The institute will be renamed the Trager Family Institute for Optimal Aging. Additionally, the gift will create the Republic Bank Foundation Optimal Aging Clinic, which will apply the research conducted and offer hands-on services to its clients.

“The Trager Institute for Optimal Aging will bolster our current efforts and launch new initiatives in research, treatment and programming that will improve the quality of life for our older citizens,” Bendapudi said. “Louisville is a hub for aging care businesses, insurance companies and health care organizations. Our goal is to create partnerships that will leverage this expertise to improve the lives of people in the Commonwealth and throughout the world.”

The Trager Family Foundation and Republic Bank Foundation will contribute equally to the Trager Institute for Optimal Aging. Bendapudi called the contributions “generous and significant.”

“As both a family and organization, our roots with the University of Louisville run deep.  So, at the beginning of this new chapter for the university, with much optimism for the city, the university, and President Bendapudi, we felt that it was important to show our support,” said Steve Trager, chairman and CEO of Republic Bank. “Considering the importance of the eldercare industry to Louisville’s economic development, we are proud to partner with the University of Louisville to introduce the Trager Family Institute for Optimal Aging.  It is our hope that this gift will help develop a world-class conduit that eldercare companies can partner with in research, innovation, and career development.  Additionally, local citizens will become beneficiaries of the Institute’s efforts through the newly established Republic Bank Foundation Clinic.”

“On behalf of the entire Trager Family and the Republic Bank Foundation, we are excited to be able to support one of President Bendapudi’s and the University of Louisville’s core focuses, aging and eldercare,” Trager said.