‘Intl Conf on Health Care in the Elderly- A case study in Geriatric Mental Health’ at KMC-Attavar
Mangaluru: Addressing the media persons during a press meet held at Mangaluru Press Club, Medical Superintendent of KMC Hospitals Mangaluru-Dr. Anand Venugopal said, “KMC Hospitals has first of its kind services for the care of the older adults in Mangaluru called the Centre for Care of Older Persons. This facility will provide health care services to older adults (above the age of 50) by means of a multidisciplinary team consisting of professionals trained in elder health care. The team for elder care at KMC Hospitals Mangalore will consist of a psychiatric social worker, a physiotherapist and a nurse, who will work with a Geriatrician to offer Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA). In keeping with the National Policy for Older Persons in India, we at K.M.C. Hospitals Mangaluru will keep the family as the focus of care for our elders. We will empower families to take care of their elderly by providing education and specialized services to improve the quality of life of elders in the city of Mangaluru “.
He further said, “Older adults have several geriatric syndromes common to them such as a risk of falls, depression, loneliness, memory loss, difficulty in managing medications and presence of urinary or bowel incontinence which will be assessed and addressed by our multidisciplinary care team. The services provided by the care team at KMC Hospitals Mangalore have been modeled on the team approach used at the Geriatric Clinic at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, U.S.A. At the Centre for Care of Older Adults at KMC, patients are provided both outpatient and inpatient services. A Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment is performed by means of 1 hour appointments to enable the multidisciplinary team to conduct detailed assessments and for the delivery of care plans to the patient and the family. KMC Hospital Attavar will be hosting an ‘’International Conference on Health Care in the Elderly- A case study in Geriatric Mental Health” on 24th & 25th of January 2019 at Sanjeevini Hall, KMC Hospital Attavar”.
Also speaking during the press meet, Dr. John Ramapuram, Head – Department of Medicine at KMC Mangaluru said, “Regarding the goals of the Conference said that ‘India is a relatively young country, as only 8.6% of its population is over the age of 60. However, this translates to a huge volume of 10.4 crores elderly, most of whom receive no specialized elder care today. This number is projected to rise to 30 crores in the next 30 years, and we in India are faced with a massive burden of care, much of which will land on the family and on the society, unless we act now. With the changing social structure of societies across the world, Mangaluru is not far behind with urbanization and narrowing of family sizes, thus placing a huge burden on the families whenever disabilities strike”.
Also speaking, Dr. Sheetal Raj, Geriatrician ( Physician trained in the care of Older Adults) at K.M.C. Hospitals Mangaluru said, “This conference has been organised with the goal to bring together doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and social workers onto a common platform in order to introduce the concept of interdisciplinary assessment in the treatment of Older Adults. Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) has taken the lead in addressing the issue of elder care by establishing collaboration with the team of geriatricians at the University of Iowa, U.S.A. in May 2018.
“The faculty from the University of Iowa, led by Dr. Jason Wilbur, a geriatrician, Dr.Jeffrey Reist, a clinical Pharmacist, Ms. Gretchen Schmuch, a social worker, and Dr.Ann Broderick, Professor in Palliative care will join for this conference to share their expertise and vast experience in treating Older Adults at Iowa City, U.S.A.They will be joined by eminent speakers from India, such as Dr. Naveen Salins, Head of Palliative Care at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and Ms. Alice Stella, nurse trainer from Government Medical College, Calicut” added Dr Sheetal.
It is noted that this conference will throw light on the aspects like – How a multidisciplinary team works together with the patient and his family in diagnosing and managing various problems, assessment of depression in elderly, how to safely use antidepressants in Older Adults and will have sessions for doctors on how to prescribe medicines in Older Adults. We will also have discussions on how to provide care to a bedridden patient, and on managing patients at the end of life, who have serious and often incurable diseases.
For queries or appointment please contact: 9148219022- Centre for Care of Older Persons, KMC Hospitals, Mangaluru
