Posts Tagged ‘geriatric medicine research unit’
New blog from Geriatric Medicine Research
Geriatric Medicine Research at Dalhousie University/Capital Health, has a new blog launched earlier this month, that brings you up to date news from the world of research in aging. GMR has been leading the way in patient and carer centrered research into frailty and dementia for two decades: 
Founded in 1991 by Dr. Kenneth Rockwood, Geriatric Medicine Research (GMR) has pioneered an interdisciplinary approach to the study of aging, frailty and dementia that has allowed us to work with artists, philosophers, linguists, sociologists, applied mathematicians and data miners, just to name a few.
Innovative work being done by the GMR team here at Dalhousie University/Capital Health includes tools and services to allow for a more responsive system of care for aging patients, as well as work into the effects of social vulnerability on health and mortality. We have also initiated a specialized clinic to help elderly patients understand the benefits and risks of treatments available to them.Recent work has also begun to help better understand and provide for the needs of those who care for our expanding population of dementia patients, and we currently head up a cross-Canada network for knowledge translation in the field of dementia research.
GMR has a long history of research collaborations with groups as close as Ontario and as far flung as China. We hope you will take a minute to look explore our site, the varied work we do, and the many groups who work with us.
Check out their blog here.
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Dementia and Driving Survey
Notifbutwhen.ca
Are you a caregiver for someone with dementia who drives or recently stopped driving? Do you know someone in this situation? There is a new resource available for driving and dementia in Nova Scotia that helps caregivers understand when it may be time to hang up the keys, and offers useful information and strategies around this topic.
Did you know that in Nova Scotia, more than 5,000 people with dementia continue to drive, and that this number is expected to double over the next 10 years?
A recent public health campaign was designed to open lines of communication between people with dementia, their caregivers, and health care professionals when it comes to the difficult issue of driving. Geriatric Medicine Research in Halifax, in partnership with the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation and the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia, invites you to take part in a short anonymous survey about driving and dementia.
The survey asks about your experience caring for a person with dementia who currently drives or recently stopped driving. All responses are anonymous and cannot result in any direct action or ramifications for you or the individual with dementia. The results of this survey are critical to help design future programs to support people with dementia and their caregivers as they navigate the issue of driving and dementia.
For more information, and a link to the survey, click here.
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GANS Lunch and Learn video available online
The first video from this spring’s series of Lunch and Learns isnow available for online viewing. this video features Dr. Paige Moorhouse’s lecture on the new Palliative and Therapeutic Harmonization Clinic, which offers resources and skills for chronically ill older adult to assist them in dealing with their current and future medical issues/wishes.
The video is in four parts, due to its length, and can be viewed at the following links:
For more information about the PATH Clinic, you can contact peggyhobbs@cdha.nshealth.ca
Thanks to the Geriatric Medicine Research Unit for hosting these videos on their YouTube channel! There are other videos there on topics such as driving and dementia, frailty, and more.
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China-Canada Research Collaboration travels to Beijing.
An innovative collaboration between research groups in Beijing, China and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada is leading to a better understanding of the state of the aging population in China.
Left to right: Xiaowei Song, Pulin Yu, Kenneth Rockwood, Chinese Community Doctors (3), Xianghua Fang
Led in Canada by Dr. Kenneth Rockwood of the Geriatric Medicine Research Unit (GMRU) and in China by Dr. Xianghua Fang at the Beijing Institute of Geriatrics, a team of researchers are spending three years working together on issues that arise due to an aging population
The increasing proportion of elderly people presents multiple challenges for health care, and this is particularly dramatic in China where between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of people aged 65 and older will rise from 7% to 23%, numbering more than 332 million.
There is a great amount of health data on this population accumulated in China, but the research capacity to process and explore these data is still limited. This collaboration makes use of resources and skills of those at the GMRU to help advance understanding of this problem in China.
Representing the Chinese team in Canada is Shi Jing, an epidemiologist who is not only acquiring the skills to analyze the Chinese datasets, but will take these skills back with her to China at the end of her one year stay here, and pass these on to other researchers there.
The Canadian team is currently preparing for a trip to China in May, where they will make several presentations at the 3rd National Conference of the Prevention of Common Diseases in the Elderly in Yichang Hubei, May 7-9. The China-Canada Collaboration is funded jointly by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Institute of Aging) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Student Poster Competition – seniors’ mental health.
The Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health (CCSMH) will hold a poster competition for students in the field of seniors’ mental health. Submission is open to all students who plan to attend the CCSMH 4th National Conference in Halifax. This poster competition is sponsored by the Geriatric Medicine Research Unit.
Submission is open to all students who plan to attend the CCSMH 4th National Conference in Halifax. Posters will be displayed throughout the conference foyer on Monday, September 27, with two time blocks dedicated to poster viewing.
The deadline for submitting your abstract is July 15, 2010 and abstracts will be considered in the following themes:
- New research findings
- Models of care & service delivery
- In-service education & training
- Health promotion & illness prevention
- Implementation of best practice guidelines
- Anti-stigma & raising awareness
- Role of the caregiver & consumer
- Knowledge transfer & exchange
See the Program-at-a-Glance for full details.
Social Vulnerability in Elderly People
Recent work at the Geriatric Medicine Research Unit has shed light on the link between social vulnerability and mortality. 
Dr. Melissa Andrew, a geriatrician working at the research unit, describes social vulnerability as a variety of factors that make people susceptible to illness, disease, decline in their ability to do things for themselves, or even death. The factors can include low education, low income, lack of family supports, social isolation, not being able to participate in community activities, living in a community with high unemployment and having few opportunities for socializing.
This work on social vulnerability is of vital importance as it has shown that for each additional social vulnerability factor a person had, the likelihood of death increased 5-8%. Working with data from 7000+ Canadian over the age of 65, she has also shown that the older a person is, the higher their level of social vulnerability. Click here to read the work of Dr. Andrew and her colleagues at the open journal PLoS ONE.
The research unit has invested in a series of videos to explain the importance and impact of their work in areas such as social vulnerability, dementia, and frailty. You can see all the videos here.
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