Kansas’ population is aging, creating a growing need for health professionals who are prepared to provide high-quality, person-centered care for older adults.

For nearly 50 years, the KU Area Health Education Center (AHEC) has worked to provide healthcare education across Kansas. A new partnership with Kansas 4M brings and increased focus on preparing healthcare workforce to care for an aging population.

A statewide geriatric workforce education program led by the KU School of Nursing in collaboration with KU’s schools of Health Professions, Medicine, Pharmacy and Social Welfare, Kansas 4M launched in 2024.

Led by Teri Kennedy, Ph.D., MSW, Kansas 4M project director and principal investigator, the program aims to strengthen the healthcare workforce and ensure older Kansans receive high-quality care that reflects their individual needs and preferences.

The program is built around the 4Ms of an Age-Friendly Health System: What Matters, Medications, Mentation and Mobility. Together, these evidence-based elements help health professionals focus on what is most important to older adults while addressing medication safety, cognitive and mental health, and movement and mobility.

This work is especially important across rural Kansas, where workforce shortages and growing populations of older adults can create significant challenges in accessing appropriate, age-friendly care. Kansas 4M helps address those challenges by providing education and training for students, residents, fellows, faculty, preceptors, health professionals and community organizations across the state.

The partnership between KU AHEC and Kansas 4M takes that education even further. With KU AHEC’s expertise in continuing education and connections with health professionals and communities across Kansas and Kansas 4M’s tailored training content, the partnership expands opportunities for the healthcare workforce to build knowledge and skills in caring for older adults.

The partnership has supported a growing range of educational opportunities. The Interprofessional Age-Friendly Scholars Program engages learners from multiple health professions in understanding and applying age-friendly principles. Kansas 4M Lunch and Learn programs provide accessible education on topics affecting older adults, including caring for aging individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Other educational programming has focused specifically on introducing the 4Ms framework in clinical and academic settings and helping health professionals, preceptors and educators consider how the framework can be incorporated into their work.

Age-friendly principles also complement KU AHEC’s broader continuing education and workforce development efforts related to older adults. Programs such as the Age-Friendly Nursing Workforce Forum and the Governor’s Conference on Aging, along with other continuing education opportunities focused on older-adult care, create additional opportunities to strengthen knowledge, encourage collaboration and connect health professionals with resources that can support their work.

For KU AHEC, this partnership is a natural extension of its work to connect people, education and resources to strengthen Kansas’ health workforce. By working alongside Kansas 4M, KU AHEC is helping bring age-friendly education to more professionals and communities, supporting a workforce prepared to meet the evolving needs of older Kansans and advancing more equitable, person-centered care across the state.