Empowering Individuals to Improve Their Hypertension Control through Peer Support

Project Overview

2nd Funding Cycle Impact Award
     Project Start Date: 7/1/2006
     Project End Date: 6/30/2009

Project Goal Statement: This intervention will establish a network of peer support groups to encourage superior blood pressure control and reduce the associated risk of death and disability among elderly members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

Orignal Award Amount: $450,000
Adjusted Award Amount: $433,805*

Community Partners:
Primary Community Partner: Clement Zablocki VA Medical Center
Additional community partner organization names: Veterans of Foreign Wars

Academic Partners:
Primary Academic Partner: Jeff Whittle, MD, MPH, Department of Medicine
Additional Academic Partner: Jeff Morzinski, PhD, Department of Family Medicine

Project Progress Summary Reports:
     Project Progress Report Summary July 2006 - June 2008
     Project Final Report Summary    

Affiliated Web Pages:
     Clement Zablocki VA Medical Center
     Department of Wisconsin VFW

Project Dissemination Efforts (as reported by project partners)

• Articles
  • Featured in the Post newsletter
  • Article in the VFW News. Monitoring the Pressure-A Valuable Program. December 11, 2008.
• Paper
  • Patterson L, Morzinski J, Ertl K, Wurm C, Hayes A, Whittle J. Engaging Community-Based Veterans’ Organizations in Health Promotion Programs. Fam Community Health, Volume 34, Nov 4, pp 311-318.
• Posters
  • Poster presentation at the Community Campus Partnerships for Health Conference. Toronto, Canada. April 2007.
  • Poster presentation at the Medical College of Wisconsin Department of Family and Community Medicine Research Forum. Jun 2009.
• Presentations
  • Presentation at the Midwest Regional Meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM). September 2007.
  • Presentation at the 41^st Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Annual Spring Meetings – Morzinski JA, Hinojosa M. Academic family medicine partnerships with community-based veterans. 41^st Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Annual Spring Meetings. Baltimore, MD. April 30-May 4, 2008.

*In 2009 award amounts, based on the remaining budget, were adjusted to reflect the decline in endowment asset value due to the downturn in the economy.