Tamas Fülöp Award - The network - Towards Unity For Health

Projects
Related to Care for the Elderly
Molly Eriki from Uganda (jajjashome@
Akye plans to work with his colleagues in his
mend that care of the elderly be part of the
mildmay.or.ug) reported on an innovative
family practice to find ways to provide home
undergraduate medicine curriculum.
programme in Uganda, in which grandpar-
care for the older adults in their practices.
ents are care givers of children with AIDS.
This approach will also create learning op-
Larry Chambers from Canada (lchamber@
‘Clubs for Grandparents’ were set up in 14
portunities for undergraduate medical stu-
scohs.on.ca) outlined projects of the Elisa-
of the 80 districts of Uganda. NGO funding
dents.
beth Bruyère Research Institute (EBRI). The
was used to hire volunteer coordinators who
EBRI website provides brief overviews of its
recruit volunteers identified by local health-
Suman Gadicherla from India (suma-
research programmes that cover care of the
care centres and parish officials to run these
namogh@gmail.com) reported on Indira
elderly, including the cardiovascular health
clubs. The clubs typically support 40 to 50
Gandhi National Open University, School of
awareness programme (www.chapprogram.
grandparents each week.
Health Sciences offering post graduate di-
ca), palliative care, CanDRIVE (a research
ploma courses, which is of one year duration,
programme to improve clinical decision-mak-
A number of activities are offered at the
for medical graduates i.e. to those who have
ing related to keeping older drivers driving),
clubs, from skills training in care of children
to poetry writing and healthcare. Healthcare
sessions at the club are followed up with
home visits by nurses, teachers, physicians,
religious leaders and social workers. Students
including medical nursing and social
work students regularly have placements attached
to the clubs. With the early success
of these clubs, Molly pointed out that this
programme should be offered in the other
66 districts in Uganda.
Akye Essuman from Ghana (akyessuman@
yahoo.com) outlined his interest in home
care for older adults in his practice and his
desire to see care of the elderly be a learning
goal for medical students in his medical
school.
At present, the students may be exposed
to care of the elderly in their clerkship, and
there is an opportunity in the family medicine
residency programme for residents to
completed their MBBS and are practicing
medicine. This course is offered in distance
education mode and the school is one of
the study centres where the enrolled participants
come for contact programmes, about
four spells of one week each.
In her teaching hospital, a geriatrics clinic is
offered one day of each week. In September
2007, an outreach centre/clinic for older
adult outpatients was offered and medical
students (house surgeons/interns) participate
in these clinics. The plan is to expand
these clinics to include health promotion
and disease prevention.
Joan Basigira from Uganda (registrar@
med.mak.ac.ug) had observed that care of
the elderly is not a topic presently covered in
the undergraduate curriculum of the Makere
Medical School. Medical students now must
participate in the Community-Based Education
Service (CBES) component of their pro-
primary care, and TAFETA (keeping people
independent in a friendly home environment
through the use of technology). Larry reported
that the EBRI is producing and evaluating
on-line e-learning resources that focus on
interprofessional patient-centred collaborative
care and palliative care through the humanities.
The EBRI is a member of the newly
established Ontario Seniors Health Research
Transfer Network (SHRTN)(www.shrtn.on.ca).
Through the support of librarians, knowledge
brokers and the health and aging research
institutes/centres in Ontario, caregivers of
older adults participate in SHRTN local implementation
teams, SHRTN communities of
practice, the SHRTN annual assembly to exchange
ideas, connect people, and promote
use and production of research.
The Network: TUFH taskforce on Elderly Care
and the Network: TUFH taskforce on Interprofessional
Education will jointly plan and
run a session at the next Network: TUFH
J U L Y 2 0 0 8 N E W S L E T T E R N U M B E R 0 1 | V O L U M E 2 7
focus on geriatrics.
gramme, where they conduct a community
Conference in Colombia in 2008. Elderly
environmental scan focusing on prevention
Care taskforce members are invited to partic-
The Help Age Ghana long-term care home
and health promotion. Some exposure to
ipate in planning the session by contacting
and a few veteran homes are the only facili-
care of the elderly may arise but this is not
Larry Chambers and Dawn Forman (dawn.
ties, and therefore virtually all older adults
emphasized by the CBES. Students also are
forman@btinternet.com) (leader of the task-
must stay at home when they become frail
involved in the palliative care hospice in
force on Interprofessional Education).
and more dependent. As more and more city
Kampala that includes outreach home visits.
dwellers spend time at work, they have less
The School of Medicine is presently conduct-
Larry Chambers | Taskforce Care for the
time to care for their homebound parents
ing a review of the undergraduate medicine
Elderly
and/or grandparents.
curriculum. As Registrar, Joan will recom-
Email: lchamber@scohs.on.ca
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