The 15-credit graduate-level program is intended for the busy professional. It is designed to be completed in as little as 15 months on weekends and through on-line instruction. Once completed, the program will enable students to gain the knowledge and professional skills needed to establish a geriatric care management practice committed to assuring the provision of quality care and to maintaining the best possible quality of life for the elderly.

Participants will learn to professionally assess, coordinate and monitor the health and human services needs of elderly clients and their families, and to understand the impact of the aging process on the individual, the family, the community and health care delivery system.

Graduates of the program will be prepared to provide leadership to communities in this currently evolving field of practice. The curriculum will work to assure that graduates deliver their professional services in an ethical manner and with respect for cultural and other diversities in the aging population. The program is designed for college graduates and licensed professionals like social workers, nurses, occupational and physical therapists, and psychologists who are looking to advance their careers and provide service to the aging population.

Many Americans today are the primary care-givers for aging parents or family members. But what happens when many miles separate those in need or hectic lifestyles preclude family members from addressing daily or hourly services? America’s aging population has created a need for geriatric-care managers, who stand in for family members and provide a myriad of important services for elderly people.

Geriatric health care is one of the fastest growing health care specialties in the country. In 2003, nearly 36 million people age 65 and older lived in the United States, accounting for more than 12 percent of the population. During the 20th century, the elderly population grew from 3 million to 35 million. The number of Americans aged 80 and older grew from more than 100,000 in 1900 to more than 4.2 million in 2000, according to the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers (GCM).

Baby boomers — those born between 1946 and 1964 — will start turning 65 in 2011. The number of elderly will increase dramatically during the 2010-2030 period, according to GCM, growing from 35 million to 71.5 million — nearly 20 percent of the country’s population.

“It is an accepted fact in gerontology that as baby boomers enter their retirement years there will be a deficit in health care professionals to meet the demand,’’ said Jim Siberski, M.S., assistant professor and Geriatric Care Manager Certificate program director. “Misericordia University has been one or two steps ahead of the curve since the 70s, providing training and education on federal and state levels. This program will ensure that we will remain on the cutting edge.’’

Siberski is an affiliate member of the American Geriatric Psychiatric Association, a consultant for geriatric, psychiatric and mental retardation issues, and is certified in remotivation therapy, activities and gerontology. He is an adjunct psychiatry instructor at the Psychiatry School of Medicine at Penn State University and has been published numerous times and presented multiple lectures and workshops.

He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wilkes University and his master’s degree in human resource management from Misericordia University.

For more information about the program, contact Siberski at 570-674-6347 or jsiberski@misericordia.edu. Additional information is available at www.misericordia.edu.