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Garrison Institute on Aging Hosts Ribbon-Cutting, Health Fair

The Health Sciences Center’s Garrison Institute on Aging hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and Healthy Aging Fair May 4 at their new facility located at 6630 S. Quaker Ave.

Development

Shirley Garrison and M. Roy Wilson, M.D. Shirley Garrison and M. Roy Wilson, M.D., cut the ribbon on the new Garrison Institute on Aging.

In 1999, the Health Sciences Center leadership identified aging as a strategic priority for the 21st century. The Board of Regents approved the establishment of the Institute for Healthy Aging to meet this strategic priority in aging.

The institute was renamed in 2005, to the Garrison Institute on Aging in honor of Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison's commitment and leadership to advancing aging and Alzheimer's disease research, education and service for West Texans.

Paula Grammas, Ph.D., executive director of the Garrison Institute on Aging, said when it comes to aging it should not be about the quantity of years in a person’s life but the quality of those years.

“This institute is committed to the issues of aging,” Grammas said. “We will continually search for ways to improve the health of older adults through research, educational opportunities for students, health care professionals and the community, and by improving geriatric health care services.”

The institute is a collaborative initiative of the four Health Sciences Center schools of Allied Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, and addresses special challenges in geriatric training and health care.

The Healthy Aging Fair featured information for seniors and caregivers on local health services, programs and senior housing options. Participants joined in tai chi and exercise demonstrations and free health screenings for grief and depression, spinal nerve damage, oxygen saturation, BMI, blood pressure and sugar and cholesterol.

Mark McDougal, mayor of Lubbock, proclaimed May 4 “Mildred and Shirley Garrison Day” in Lubbock, in hopes of urging all seniors, health care professionals and West Texans to show their commitment to supporting the Garrison Institute on Aging and its efforts to creating a more promising, healthy future for the aged.

- Suzanna Cisneros Martinez