Georgia State University has been awarded $1.6 million for a three-year training and development project to improve the state’s nursing homes, the university announced Tuesday.

The project, called “Building Resources for Delivering Person-Centered Care in Georgia Nursing Homes,” builds on work done by the non-profit Culture Change Network of Georgia to support culture change and person-centered care in long-term care services and support organizations, the university said in a news release.

The work will include a needs-based assessment of Georgia’s 374 nursing homes and interactive competency-based online continuing education training for nursing home staff, residents and informal care partners.

“Nursing homes do not always have adequate support and resources to improve the education of their staff and to sustain a robust continuous quality improvement cycle,” said Jennifer Craft Morgan, an assistant professor of gerontology who will help lead the study. “Residents of nursing homes can experience loss of autonomy, independence and loneliness when care isn’t tailored to their personal needs and preferences.”

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report last year found the state is often slow to investigate nursing home patients who may be at imminent risk of serious injury or death.

The money, going to GSU’s Gerontology Institute, is coming from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Georgia State Survey Agency.

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8/26/17 - Atlanta, GA - Georgia leaders, including Gov. Nathan Deal, Sandra Deal, members of the King family, and Rep. Calvin Smyre,  were on hand for unveiling of the first statue of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday at the statehouse grounds, more than three years after Gov. Nathan Deal first announced the project.  During the hour-long ceremony leading to the unveiling of the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at the state Capitol on Monday, many speakers, including Gov. Nathan Deal, spoke of King's biography. The statue was unveiled on the anniversary of King's famed "I Have Dream" speech. BOB ANDRES  /BANDRES@AJC.COM

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