It’s Called “GRECC,” Have you Heard of It?

By Kelly Hanscom and Steven Huart

This article is a part of the July/August 2022, Volume 34, Number 4, Audiology Today issue. 

If you had asked me (first author) in 2017 what I was looking for in a fourth-year externship, my response would not have included a Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC). At that time, I had never heard of GRECC or knew that it existed. Come to find out, my outlook on audiology and career as an audiologist would change forever that following year after participating in Eastern Colorado GRECC at Rocky Mountain Regional Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC). 

GRECCs are Veterans Affairs (VA) geriatric centers of excellence focused on aging. They were created in 1975 to improve the health care of older Veterans and have three main missions: 

1. Build new knowledge in geriatric care through research.
2. Improve health care for older Veterans through development of innovative clinical models of care.
3. Provide training and education on best practices in caring for older adults for students in health-care disciplines and VA staff. 

There are currently 21 GRECCs in the United States. The Eastern Colorado GRECC started in 2014 and audiology was added a few years later. 

GRECC trainees participate in multiple interdisciplinary activities. These activities provide the opportunity to engage with providers from several specialties outside of audiology. Each specialty benefits and learns in depth knowledge about services outside their own scope. This contributes to the trainees developing a more holistic approach to patient care. It breaks down silos, encouraging providers to think about the big picture and not limit themselves to their own specialty.