The Houston Geriatric Education Center

Building capacity in community and healthcare systems through enhanced educational opportunities focusing on the treatment of vulnerable elders for practitioners and students.

The Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine at UTH Medical School is home to the H-GEC. It's faculty and staff are integral to the success of the educational efforts of the H-GEC. The following article highlights the work of the Division, and its members.

First Annual Symposium on Palliative and Geriatric Medicine

The Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine is hosting its first symposium on palliative and geriatric medicine July 31.

The daylong conference is designed to provide a clinical knowledge of physicians, nurses, and other health care providers regarding proper assessment and management of patients in palliative and geriatric care settings. It will be held at LBJ General Hospital’s UT Annex Auditorium 216.

The topics to be addressed include interdisciplinary symptom management (physical, emotional, and spiritual), socio-cultural challenges, and effective communication with patients facing advanced illnesses and their families. Discussion topics will include the impact of sensory changes associated with aging on quality of life, the proper management of elder patients in the hospital setting, and spirituality in health care. There will also be a panel discussion about elderly abuse and neglect.

Medical School speakers include Dr. Nasiya Ahmed, Dr. Alejandro Chaoul, Dr. Carmel Dyer, Dr. Marvin Delgado Guay, Dr. John Halphen, Shreda Paire, and Dr. Grace Varas.

The Victims Initiative for Counseling, Advocacy, and Restoration of the Southwest is a program of the Texas Legal Services Center and is funded by a grant from the United States Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Victims of Crime. This non-profit law office helps victims protect their credit, avoid scams, defend their rights, and restore their identity.

They also:

Inform people of their rights

Assist in restoring identity and credit

Assist in recovering monetary losses

Help report identity theft and financial fraud

Help obtain and review credit reports

Help communicate with police, financial institutions, credit card & reporting companies, and regulatory agencies

Help assess emergency financial needs

Help compile documentation

Represent victims in small claims cases and other legal actions against perpetrators

Help negotiate with creditors and collection agencies

Educate the public about how to avoid identity theft and financial fraud

Contact Information:

Call:888-343-4414

Or visit their website: www.idvictim.org

As part of the HGEC’s curriculum for healthcare faculty, an Expert Panel Discussion on elder abuse, neglect, and mistreatment was given by community experts representing the medical examiner’s office, the District Attorney’s office, the Better Business Bureau, Adult Protective Services, the Texas Elder Abuse and Mistreatment Institute, and the Texas Office of the Attorney General - Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Each of the panel members explained their role in detecting and preventing elder abuse and mistreatment, thus providing the participants with a community-based perspective, rather than the healthcare focused perspective with which they are accustomed. In addition to the expert panel discussion, the participants engaged in an interactive, interdisciplinary activity by working as an interdisciplinary team to determine the diagnosis and recommendations for an elder abuse case study. The participants gave feedback indicating they benefited significantly from the knowledgeable panel discussion and teamwork activity and that the session gave them new ideas on how to teach about elder abuse.

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