The Buehler Center has made remarkable progress, sometimes by working with projects that funding agencies have recognized and supported appropriately, and often by "doing more with less" (see our 2005 Financial Report). We've increased our faculty base and our research and educational activities, while decreasing staff support and operating costs. As part of a not-for-profit organization, the Buehler Center's continued success is largely supported by the generosity of our dedicated philanthropic base.
Our pioneers in health care are indeed the "quiet" heroes. Physicians such as Dr. Linda Emanuel have driven the increasing understanding of physicians that patient care is not limited to seeking and implementing cures for diseases. Projects such as EPEC (Education in Palliative and End-of-life Care) provide useful training to physicians and caregivers who can now effectively address the need for care that provides quality of life for those with chronic and incurable life-limiting illnesses as well.
The research and educational initiatives of the Buehler Center have a vital impact on the path of modern medical research and practice. Young, innovative physicians such as Dr. Joshua Hauser are devoting their careers to educating medical students in the importance of geriatrics and palliative care. Dr. Chih-Hung Chang seeks to develop new information management technologies that will improve the quality of care and quality of life for elders. Our researchers in the fields of social and behavioral science and statistics seek to provide scientific understanding of and solutions to the social determinants of stress and illness.
Our work is well described by the comment of Albert Einstein, when he asserted "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." One wonders exactly how we could measure a person's level of happiness and fulfillment. Our researchers are discovering effective ways of doing just that. The faculty of the Buehler Center seek to measure the immeasurable, solve the unsolvable, and bring health, happiness, and fulfillment to all of us as we care for our elders and become elders ourselves.
We urge all of you to ask yourselves what worthier cause there is to support. Most of us will grow old and all of us will encounter the processes of death and dying. It is the Buehler Center on Aging, Health & Society's mission to attend to the well elderly, chronically ill elderly, and those in the final stages of life.
We therefore ask for your support of our worthy cause of improving the lives of elders, their caregivers, families, and loved ones, even in their last months, days, and hours. For more information on giving opportunities, please contact Michelle Grana, Administrative Director, (312) 503-2899.