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Dr. Maria C.
Hernandez-Peck, Ph.D.
 Representing Consumers
Date Appointed: November 2009
Term Ends: July 1, 2012
Maria C. Hernandez-Peck, associate professor of social work at
Eastern Washington University, has been the director of The Center for
Studies in Aging since 1983. She came to Eastern after having completed
her doctoral degree in social work at the University of Denver. Her
master's degree is from the University of Louisville and her bachelor's degree
is from Barry
University in Miami, Fla.
A native of Cuba, Dr. Hernandez-Peck came to the United States in
1960. Upon graduation from Barry University she worked for Catholic
Welfare Bureau in Miami in the area of foster care for two years. Since
that time, she has worked in children and family services in rural
Wisconsin, Eastern Kentucky and Southeast Alaska.
Her commitment to
the field of aging and long term care emerged while a student in the
doctoral program at the University of Denver. At that time, she became
a long-distance caregiver to her father in Miami. Recognizing the many
challenges of family caregivers, particularly in the Cuban community,
who were facing non-traditional care options, Dr. Hernandez-Peck chose
as her dissertation topic: “Frail Elderly Cubans: Decision-Making for
their Long Term Care.” With a doctoral fellowship from the
Administration on Aging, Dr. Hernandez-Peck was able to complete her
dissertation research by interviewing 60 Cuban families who were
experiencing the challenges of caregiving within a new country and
cultural context.
Dr. Hernandez-Peck has had the privilege of participating in the
1981, 1995, and 2005 White House Conferences on Aging. In 1981, she was
a member of the National Advisory Committee to the White House
Conference. She serves as a member of the Planning and
Management Council of Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington, is
a member of The Continuum of Care for Providence Services, and is the
former chair for Spokane Mental Health. Gov. Gary Locke originally
appointed her to serve on the Washington State Council on Aging Board,
which she chaired from 2004 through 2006. In this capacity, she was
one of Gov. Chris Gregoire’s delegates to the 2005 White House Conference on
Aging.
Most recently Dr. Hernandez-Peck has been appointed to the Board of the Asociacion
Nacional Pro-Personas Mayores, a nationally recognized advocacy and
service organization. For her this is like going home, as this was the
organization that originally assisted her with her doctoral research
in Miami by providing office space and staff support.
Dr. Hernandez-Peck was invited to participate in the Oxford
Roundtable on Aging during the summer of 2005. She presented a paper
on “An Integrated Approach to Mental Health Service Delivery To Frail
Elders.” This paper is based on the innovative approach of identifying
elders at risk through the nationally recognized Gatekeeper Program,
which originally began in Spokane in 1978. She has also presented
papers on Cuban Elderly in the United States at the International
Psychiatric Conference and the International Geriatric Conferences that
were held in Cuba.
In June of 2007, her peers elected Dr. Hernandez-Peck MSW program director. This
three-year appointment made her primarily responsible for
curriculum as well as behavioral issues within the MSW program. She
continues to keep her appointment as Director of the Center on Aging and
is able to teach one class each quarter, and to supervise a clinical cluster
of advanced MSW students within aging and long-term care placements.
Research interests include retirement decisions of older farmers, a
project in which she is currently involved; elder male caregivers;
caregiver stress; and family decision-making. She is particularly
interested in being able to replicate her doctoral research work within
ethnic minority communities and in the possibility of assisting in the
development of a social work program at one of the universities in
Peru. She is also interested in the issues of “resiliency in older
women religious.” To this end, she is negotiating with the Religious
of the Sacred Heart in Cali, Colombia, to pursue this project. She plans to apply for a sabbatical prior to her retirement to be able
to accomplish this.
| Address: |
Eastern Washington University
School of Social Work
Senior Hall 116
Cheney, WA 99004 |
| Telephone: |
509-359-6479 |
| Fax: |
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| E-mail: |
mariapeck@aol.com |
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