Connecting Older Adults to Students Through Interprofessional Telecare (COAST-IT)
Many older adults may not have the opportunity to build a connection with a young adult. At the same time, health professional students in their first 1-2 years of clinical training may not have many clinical interactions with older adult patients.
The team at CU Anschutz, led by the Multidisciplinary Center on Aging, hosts an outreach program where students from either the School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy, College of Nursing and School of Dental Medicine programs will pair with a community older adult to have weekly to bi-monthly social phone calls with each other to build a connection of mentorship.
We're looking for new COAST-IT members!
Are you an older adult interested in participating in social connection phone calls with CU Anschutz health profession students? Join the COAST-IT program and connect with a student for bi-monthly phone conversations throughout the academic year. Calls will begin in February 2026 and run until the end of the semester in the summer.
Share your life experiences, offer mentorship, and build a rewarding intergenerational relationship with students during their journey of becoming future clinicians.
As Seen on TV
During the Fall 2025 semester, Jo Ann, age 94, and Colton, a CU Anschutz pharmacy student, were paired through the COAST-IT program—building a meaningful connection through bimonthly phone calls about school, life, and shared experiences.
Their story resonated so deeply that CBS News Colorado featured the pair in December, highlighting the impact of intergenerational connection and mentorship.
What is the Criteria to Join COAST-IT?
- Older Adults who would enjoy interacting with a student regularly and volunteer your time to connect with a student
- Older Adults who could successfully participate in regularly scheduled (up to weekly or bi-monthly) phone calls with a student. Our hope is the student, and older adult would remain phone partners through the duration of the student’s educational time on campus
- Older Adults who are comfortable communicating on the phone or tablet
- Older Adults who would enjoy regularly scheduled extended social conversations with a medical, pharmacy, nursing or dental medicine students
- Older Adults who are interested in having fun intergenerational conversations with health profession students
- Students who are interested in getting to know older adults and have an interest in being mentored by someone of the older generation
- Students who can commit to a weekly or bi-monthly social phone call with an older adult partner for the duration of an academic year, if not longer
- Students who are interested in learning how to better hone communication and interaction skills with older adults, in order to become better future clinicians
- Students who are interested in learning more about geriatric medicine and its application with future older adult patients
- Students who are interested in having fun conversations with older adults