Local Geriatric Care Manager Leading Way in Helping Plan for Care of Elderly Family Members

Contact: Kevin M. Sanders, writer/editor, (740) 593-0896

ATHENS, Ohio (June 13, 2001) -- Geriatric care management is a growing field in the country as one in four workers deal with an aging family member, with that rate expected to increase to one in three in the next four years.

Tim Dransfield will present "Geriatric Care Management, A New Tool in the Doctor's Bag" Monday, June 18, from noon to 1 p.m. at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital, Room B-9.

Dransfield, founder and president of Elder Care of the Ohio Valley, will talk about why having a geriatric management plan is important. Baby boomers who are raising children while caring for their parents are usually what he refers to as the "Sandwich Generation."

A licensed social care worker with 25 years of working with families in the area, Dransfield may be the only professional geriatric care manager in the region. He started Elder Care of the Ohio Valley in November. He says that geriatric care management is relatively new in the state as well as the country.

Dransfield will also discuss the role of physicians and care managers as part of a team, a team that may include attorneys, estate planners, and care professionals and involve assisted living facilities. Health-care professionals are invited to attend the seminar. Brown bags are welcome. For more information, call the Geriatric Education Center at (740) 593-2258.

This seminar is part of OU-COM's summer 2001 continuing education series on geriatric medicine and gerontology. Seminars are held from noon to 1:00 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital, Room B-9.

This seminar is the second of the summer series. On June 4, Jerry Wilson presented "Unfractionated Heparins vs. Low Molecular Weight Heparins in the Treatment of DVT?" Jen-Tzer Gau, M.D., Ph.D., will present "Osteoporosis: Update on its Diagnosis and Treatment July 2; Ann Rathbun, Ph.D., will present "Ageism" July 16; Cathy Stevens will present "The Role of the Ombudsman Program in Assisting Geriatric Patients" Aug. 6; and Wayne Carlsen, D.O., will present on the possible topic of "Heat Related Illness in the Older Adult" Aug. 20.

"The seminars are designed for an interdisciplinary audience," said Ellen Peterson, R.N., OU-COM geriatric education coordinator. "Health professionals from the community regularly attend, in addition to interns, residents and medical students. The diversity of disciplines represented by the participants makes for an interesting exchange of ideas."

The sponsors of the seminars include the Department of Geriatric Medicine/Gerontology, the Western Reserve Geriatric Education Center and Area Health Education Center and OU-COM.

Peterson said the seminar series was started by a federal grant that established OU-COM as a contributing site to the Western Reserve Geriatric Education Center in September 1994 and has supported many continuing education programs. Provided by the Department of Health and Human Services, the grant supports educational programs in geriatrics and gerontology for physicians, nurses, social workers, counselors and health-care providers to 22 Southeastern Ohio counties.