October 08, 2007 - Vol 1, Issue 23
200+ Organizations Support a Multi-Year Initiative for Geriatric Mental Health in NYS
Over 214 organizations have signed-on to our letter to Governor Spitzer asking him to support a multi-year effort to confront the mental health needs of older adults beginning with including funding for OMH's and OFA's joint geriatric mental health budget priorities in his Executive Budget Request.
Has Your Organization Signed-On?: If your organization can sign-on to the letter and has not yet, please contact us - yhsin@mhaofnyc.org or (212) 614-6356 - with your organization's name as it should appear on the list.
Thank you for your advocacy!
------------------------------------------------------------------
GMHA Upcoming Events
October 23, 2007 - Behavioral Management: A Best Practices Presentation in Geriatric Mental Health hosted by the Geriatric Mental Health Alliance of New York and the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging and Longevity of Hunter College.
The event will be held from 3:00 - 5:00PM at the Hunter College School of Social Work - Auditorium, 129 East 79th Street, NYC, (Between Lexington and Park Avenues). Please register by emailing yhsin@mhaofnyc.org or calling (212) 614- 6356. The event is free but pre-registration is required.
Click here for the list of other planned presentations.
November 16, 2007 - Semi- Annual Alliance Membership Meeting Please join fellow Alliance members for an exciting semi-annual meeting. The Mental Health Associations of NYC and Westchester will be awarding Assemblymember Peter Rivera, Chair of the Assembly Mental Health Committee for his leadership in geriatric mental health. There will be presentations from some of the OMH geriatric mental health grantees. We will also spend time discussing the upcoming NYS and NYC budgets with regards to geriatric mental health.
The meeting will take place from 9:30AM- 12:00PM at the UJA Federation of New York, 130 East 59th Street, NYC - 7th Floor. Please register by emailing yhsin@mhaofnyc.org or calling (212) 614- 6356. The event is free but pre-registration is required.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Geriatric Mental Health Workforce Development Paper
The Alliance recently completed a document on the geriatric mental health workforce entitled Workforce Development to Meet the Mental Health Needs of Older Adults. The paper was developed out of the Mental Health Caucus of the New York Southern Area Aging Network (NY-SAAN), which was convened to identify key geriatric mental health workforce development obstacles and to develop recommendations to overcome these obstacles. As a first step, the caucus recommended the establishment of a Center for Excellence in Geriatric Mental Health that would address a broad range of needs including developing clinical and cultural competence, increasing the size of the workforce, and developing policy recommendations on how to overcome barriers.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Testimony on Geriatric Chemical Dependency
Michael recently testified at the September hearing on the Geriatric Chemical Dependency Act held by the NYS Assembly Committees on Aging and Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. To read his testimony click here.
------------------------------------------------------------------
OMH Calls on MH Housing Providers to Reorganize Programs
The New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) is calling on mental health housing providers and other interested organizations to submit ideas about how they would reorganize their programs to become more consistent with the previously released OMH Guiding Principles for the Redesign of Mental Health Housing and Community Support Policies if they were afforded more flexibility in regulations/ licensing and contracting/budgeting.
We think this is an ample opportunity for housing providers serving older adults to think about how they would modify their programs to better meet the complex needs of the older adults they are serving.
Click here for the link to the letter that OMH sent out to mental health housing providers.
------------------------------------------------------------------
In The News
Mental Health Care
Letter to the Editor by Michael B. Friedman
From The NY Times, October 2, 2007
It is striking that neither your Sept. 23 editorial, "The Battle Over Health Care," nor any of the letters that you published on Sept. 25 about the health policy proposals of the presidential candidates mentioned mental health despite the fact that mental and substance abuse disorders are second only to cardiac conditions as a cause of long-term disability.
In addition to the suffering inherent in mental illness, untreated depression vastly complicates the treatment of cardiac and other conditions, resulting in increased risks of disability and premature death as well as vastly increasing the costs of medical treatment.
Nearly a decade ago, the surgeon general observed that there is no health without mental health. Apparently the message hasn't gotten through.
Michael B. Friedman
New York, Sept. 25, 2007
The writer is Director, Center for Policy and Advocacy, Mental Health Associations of New York City and Westchester.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Support and Counseling Helps Alzheimer's Caregivers Remain Healthy
New results from longest running study of Alzheimer's caregivers
New York, September 5, 2007 - Counseling and support for people caring for a spouse with Alzheimer's disease helps to preserve their health, according to a new study led by Mary S. Mittelman, Dr.P.H., Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. The study is published in the September 2007 issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Spouses of people with Alzheimer's disease usually are older adults. While people who take on the caregiving role tend to be healthier than those who do not, caring for someone with Alzheimer's disease is difficult in the best of circumstances, and can take a toll on a person's health.
Caregivers in the study who received an intervention developed at NYU Medical Center by Dr. Mittelman and her colleagues reported less of a decline in their physical health than those receiving usual care. "Preserving the health of spouse caregivers through counseling and support also benefits the person with Alzheimer's disease, as caregivers who are in poor health are more likely to have difficulty providing good care," said Dr. Mittelman.
To read the entire press release, click here.
Contact: Pamela McDonnell, Office of Communications and Public Affairs
NYU School of Medicine and Medical Center
Phone: 212.404.3555
E-Mail: Pamela.McDonnell@nyumc.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elderly suicide climbs but few programs intervene
Newsday.com
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS September 19, 2007
Not long after Anne Beale Golsan had retired on disability from her job as a librarian, she put a stack of paid bills out for the mail, hung up a freshly pressed outfit and taped a note to the front of the house.
"Don't come in by yourself. Get somebody to come with you. Sorry, Love Beale." Her niece arrived at the house they shared in Baton Rouge, La., to find police already there. Golsan, 72, had killed herself with a gunshot to the head.
"Every single day it makes me feel like I wish I could have done something," Jane Golsan Ray said, recalling her aunt's death eight years ago. "I wish I could turn back the clock and prevent it. It doesn't get any better, it hurts every day."
The elderly are the highest risk population for suicide. But few prevention programs target them - a result, advocates say, of scarce funding and lack of concern for older Americans. And mental heath experts say the number of elderly suicides is likely to climb as baby boomers enter their twilight years.
The overall U.S. suicide rate is 11 per 100,000 people. But for those 65 and older, that figure rises to 14 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which based its findings on 2004 data, the most recent available.
To read the entire article, click here.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Events
*Home Care Association (HCA) Conference Focuses on Mental Health*
November 7- 8th, 2007 - HCA Clinical and Technology Conference This two day conference will focus on recognizing and addressing mental health issues among the patients served by home care agencies. The conference will take place at the Holiday Inn, Wolf Road, Albany, NY.
October 17-19, 2007 - State Society on Aging of New York 35th Annual Conference: Addressing the Opportunities and Challenges of Aging: Local Responses to Global Issues A multi-day conference on issues important to aging. The conference will take place at the Albany Marriot, Wolf Road, Albany, NY.
October 18, 2007 - The Aging Holocaust Survivor: Striving and Thriving Through Trauma A conference for mental health practitioners and geriatric professionals as well as Holocaust survivors and children of survivors co- sponsored by Nachas Health and Family Network and Ohel. The conference will take place from 9:00- 2:30PM at The Renaissance, 5902 14th Avennue, Brooklyn, NY.
October 24, 2007 - Caring for a Family Member, Caring for Yourself The first in a three-part breakfast seminar series on issues of aging and caregiving co-sponsored by The Jewish Home and Hospital, Jewish Board of Family and Children Services, and UJA Federation of NY. The seminar will take place from 8:00-9:30AM at the Ben Barrack Auditorium of The Jewish Home and Hospital Lifecare System, 120 West 106th Street, NY, NY.
October 26, 2007 - Prevention of Suicide in Older Adults A half day conference sponsored by the NY Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, NAMI-NYC Metro, and the Suicide Intervention Center of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The conference will take place from 8:00AM - 12:30PM at Lighthouse International, 111 East 59th Street, NYC.
November 8, 2007 - Save the Date: 23rd Annual Mayoral Conference on Alzheimer's Disease A full day conference co-sponsored by the NYC Dept for the Aging, the Aging in NY Fund, and The Zachary and Elizabeth M. Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation.
No comments:
Post a Comment