The Hirtzel Institute on Health Education and Aging is founded and supported by an unprecedented one million dollar grant from the Orris C. Hirtzel and Beatrice Dewey Hirtzel Memorial Foundation to Mercyhurst College. The Institute is located at the Mercyhurst North East campus within a block of where the benefactor's son, Phillip, had lived before the time of his death at ninety-one years of age. This gift represents the largest the foundation has given a college or university for undergraduate education in its 46-year history The mission of the Hirtzel Institute on Health Education and Aging is to educate policymakers, civic leaders, educators, consumers, providers and the caregiver workforce on strategies to effectively engage the impact of the aging population on health care, workforce preparation, academe, communities and families. The Institute will also broaden its scope beyond aging issues and address the continuing health education needs of nurses, nursing students and the allied health workforce. Mercyhurst College North East is an opportunity career college offering students “Success in Two Years or Less” fulfilling the mission of the Sisters of Mercy and Mother Catherine McAuley who believed that education should be available to all students. The college offers seventeen nationally and regionally accredited associate degrees and seven one-year career oriented certificate programs. The Hirtzel Institute on Health Education and Aging is especially focused on working with the colleges two nursing programs: the Registered Nursing (RN) program and the Practical Nursing program (LPN) at Mercyhurst North East. About the Director Dr. Linda Rhodes is an Erie native, a Distinguished Alumna of the Year award winner of Mercyhurst College, former Pennsylvania Secretary of Aging and author of three books one of which just received the Bronze National 2005 Mature Media Award, Should Mom be Left Alone? Should Dad be Driving? available in bookstores nationwide. Her most recent book, Breast Cancer: Covered or Not? An Insurance Guide was underwritten by the Centers for Disease Control on behalf of the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition. The book navigates women through the insurance maze of health care when diagnosed with breast cancer and is available through their breast cancer web site. Rhodes is an expert on caregiving issues among families and older people and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Newsweek, Family Circle, More magazine and is a frequent guest on radio and television shows. She has also consults state governments in health care and education policy throughout the country through the public policy consulting firm Public Works LLC [www.public-works.org]. Dr. Rhodes hosts her own web site on caregiving resources at www.lindarhodes.com and writes a weekly award winning (National Mature Media Award) news paper column for Pennsylvania's third largest paper, The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and occasionally featured in the Erie Times. Contact Information Dr. Linda M. Rhodes, Director Hirtzel Institute on Health Education and Aging 16 West Division Street, Ridge Room 206 North East, Pennsylvania 16428 Email: lrhodes@mercyhurst.edu Voice: 814-725-6245 or 610-296-9523