1. Linda Mauger
Community Health
Linda joined OCN following a long career in gerontology at The Ohio State University.
As Director of the Office of Geriatrics and Gerontology in the College of Medicine, the
only unit at the University dedicated to aging, Linda was an innovator in health and
aging. Under her leadership, the Office had a strong commitment to distance
education. The Office collaborated with faculty from multiple disciplines across campus
to develop a variety of distance education programs in aging, connecting health and
social service students to aging education through technology – “meeting students
where they are” to grow the number of professionals serving the needs of an ever-
expanding population of older adults.
Through her deep commitment to promoting health and wellness across the lifespan,
Linda lead the creation of the Champion Intergenerational Enrichment and Education
Center on the near east side of Columbus, a nationally unique center that is fully
embedded in the academic life of Ohio State. The Center is a public/private
collaboration that provides care, life-long learning, and purposeful intergenerational
programming for children and older adults each day, while offering an interprofessional
training venue for OSU students, our future healthcare and social service providers.
Research, education and training are the foundation of the program, setting standards
for best practices and improved quality of life.
While serving as an elected leader in her community, Linda drew upon her work at OSU
to create the STAY UA Program (Services to Age in Your Upper Arlington).
Recognizing that the healthcare, social services, and long-term care networks are often
disconnected and fragmented, this program works to change the paradigm of care by
locating a service coordinator in the fire division to address the challenges of complex
healthcare and supportive services needs of older adults at the point of entry into the
system—as part of the 911 response. The goal of this program is to support aging in
place by proactively preventing unnecessary hospitalizations and delaying or avoiding
the need for nursing home admissions. The program has been successful for several
years in Upper Arlington and is replicable in other communities.
At OCN, Linda focuses on the integration of telemedicine across the long-term care
network, once again leading efforts to change the paradigm of care and enhance quality
of life for our most vulnerable population of older adults – combining high tech and high
touch for true person-centered care.