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Sheridan Hill House: An Alternative Residential Model for Older Persons with Serious Mental Illness and Medical Conditions
In the context of recent national research findings that people with serious mental illness have a significantly shorter lifespan than the general population, the mental health community has directed much attention to addressing this disparity. Integrating mental health and health care has become...
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Study Ties Blood Protein to Alzheimer’s Brain Abnormalities
Scientists are seeking ways to detect the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease, since harmful changes may be taking place in the brain years before symptoms appear. Now, researchers report that a blood test detecting a specific protein in blood samples from cognitively normal older people may...
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The NYSPA Report: New York State Psychiatric Association’s 2011 Legislative Agenda
Presenting the New York State Psychiatric Association’s legislative agenda for the 2011 session in Albany represents more of a challenge than usual because the governor’s budget proposal will be presented after the writing of this report and the printing of this issue of Mental Health News....
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The Medical Care and Psychosocial Needs of Older Adults
More than half of the older adults who receive behavioral health care receive it from their primary care physician. There has been much recent interest in the medical or health home model that provides comprehensive care, and in which a primary care physician (PCP) leads a team, which may include...
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The Growing Problem of Drug and Alcohol Use in Older Adults
I recall when I was doing a field placement in a geriatric care facility in Joliet, Illinois, I encountered a resident who kept a flask of whiskey in his robe pocket and seemed to always have a ready replacement when one was empty. Often the patient was in a stupor and had several incidents in...
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The Emotional Needs of Older Adults from the Former Soviet Union
Many people from the former Soviet Union seek and receive culturally sensitive services from the FEGS Brooklyn Resource Center on Kings Highway in Brooklyn. This outpatient OMH licensed clinic provides psychiatric and counseling services to many Russian speaking individuals of whom a majority are...
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The Economics of Recovery: System Reform
New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team gathered an impressive list of suggestions to stem the growth of New York’s 50+ billion dollar Medicaid program. I was particularly impressed with their adoption of the 80/20 concept developed by business marketers in the 70’s....
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Support for Older Adult Peers
The Baltic Street, Advocacy, Employment, and Housing, Inc, Geriatric Peer Advocacy Program may be the only peer to peer program in New York City that offers services to seniors that have psychiatric disabilities. The program has been in existence since 1998 and although it is a small program, over...
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Serving the Mental Health Needs of Homebound Older Adults
As our population continues to age, it is not uncommon for many of us to have an older neighbor who has become homebound and disappeared from view. Maybe once they were an active part of the community, but now as a result of life changes associated with aging, such as declining health or the loss...
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Planning Ahead for Difficult Health Care Decisions
During recent debates over healthcare legislation the term “death panels” was thrown around at a regular interval, conjuring up ideas of bureaucrats meeting in secret to decide who would live and who would die. Despite the ominous title and political imagery it provoked, “death panels”...
