Senior Health Specialists? Geriatricians? Where are you?

Posted on November 13, 2011 Updated on March 3, 2012

The heading from an Associated Press story by Matt Sedensky, “Who’s going to take care of our aging population?” should wake ALL of us up; not just us Baby Boomers, but ALL of us because at this stage of our world’s existence, no one has created a magic elixir that cures old age and dying.

Talk to anybody who is in med school, or considering med school, ask them what specialty they would like to focus on and you’ll hear: orthopedics, pediatrics, heart disease, cancer treatment – all worthy fields but I would venture to guess that not one of whom you ask that question has said, Geriatrics or Senior Health.  “What about geriatrics?” I ask them.  “We’re living longer so you’ll ALWAYS have a job taking care of a civilization that’s fighting to stay alive as long as it can!”  They don’t buy it, especially since Geriatricians are  one of the lowest paid medical specialties amongst the medical community.

Ugh!  Who wants to deal with the wrinkly, saggy, hard-of-hearing, loud complaining geezers among us?  Not very many according to the linked article above.  According to Mr. Sedensky’s research, there is roughly one Geriatrician for every 2,600 people 75 and older.  No wonder people can’t find a doctor who specializes in Senior Health!  I facilitate an Alzheimer’s Caregiver support group in my town wherein these family members expound on their frustrating efforts to locate a doctor who: a) will spend the time needed to have a productive appointment with their aging parent; b) who knows enough about elder health issues to suggest a treatment that will provide quality of life for the patient; and c) who has a medical staff that is sufficiently trained to interact with their elderly patients.   Unfortunately, the General Practitioner or Internist quite frequently provide the same treatment, and the same method of communicating, to their elderly patients – even those with Alzheimer’s or other dementia –  as they do their patients in their 20’s thru 70’s.  That just won’t cut it.

Older patients have more complex conditions – and more of them.  If a medical professional isn’t accurately trained, he or she might discount an elderly patient’s symptoms as those expected during the normal aging process and therefore offer no effective treatment.  “What can you expect at your age Mrs. Jones?  Be glad that you’ve lived this long!”  I know – that sounds really callous – but I dare say too many elderly patients are treated dismissively, and as a result their quality of life decreases greatly.

Think about it my fellow Baby Boomers.  Are you willing to be dismissed just because your doctor doesn’t know what the heck he’s doing?  I know that all of us have been to doctors who we’ve “fired” because of their lack of understanding and/or their failure to provide proactive treatment.  The vulnerable adults among us might not realize that they have choices.   They might not feel confident enough to challenge the highly educated medical professional to whom they have entrusted their lives.  Who loses in that equation?  We all do.  If our aging relatives don’t have appropriate medical care options at this time in their lives, why do we think that there will suddenly be an influx of Geriatricians to treat us when we’re their age?

Maybe this is a lost cause for us but it doesn’t have to be that way for those coming up in the aging ranks behind us.  What are your thoughts about this glut of Senior Health professionals?  How can we hope to live in a world where quality of life – something we value greatly – is an unreachable, yet much desired goal?