UCSF and the Jewish Home partner for research A world of interests ...

Acute Psychiatric Unit
Dr. Mary DeMay, a geriatric psychiatrist at the Home,
is looking forward to the completion of the
refurbished acute psychiatric unit.
For some time, the Home has contracted with
Kaiser Permanente to receive senior patients agreeing
to be admitted to the Home for acute psychiatric
services. “With the change in licensing,” notes Dr.
Michael Geiser, the Home’s chief of psychiatry, “we’ll
serve a large population of people who, for whatever
reasons – maybe it’s the severity of their illness – can’t
give consent.”
With funding in full from the Koret Foundation, a
major renovation project associated with the Home’s
Koret Center began in April 2009.
“We’ll now have a clearly identifiable 12-person acute
psychiatric unit that is egress-controlled, with up-todate
monitoring equipment, nursing stations, and
patient rooms,” says Dr. Geiser.
“In other words, it’s a hospital,” explains Dr. Jay
Luxenberg, the Home’s medical director. “People in the
community want to be admitted to a hospital when
they’re ill, not a nursing home.”
Under the direction of Sasha Glezerman, RN,
associate director of acute psychiatry, staff at the
Home – from nurses and social workers, to security,
maintenance and housekeeping, anyone who might
work on the unit – has undergone special training on
how to manage various types of patient behavior. Notes
Dr. Luxenberg: “We’ve taken the time to train all levels of
staff to serve a different population.”
The establishment of a special psychiatric unit to treat elderly patients at the
Jewish Home, where doctors and staff specialize in the care of the elderly,
and where the environment is more conducive to healing, makes sense.
Psychiatric disorders in the elderly may be the
result of complex medical illnesses such as Parkinson’s
disease. Dementia, paranoia, depression, anxiety, and
confusion are also among the many issues that are
dealt with.
The establishment of a special psychiatric unit to
treat elderly patients at the Jewish Home, where doctors
and staff specialize in the care of the elderly, and where
the environment is more conducive to healing, makes
sense, according to Dr. Luxenberg.
“A general hospital psychiatric unit is often loud, and
populated by people with substance-abuse problems or
the potential for physical violence. Just as elderly people
wouldn’t do well at a rap concert, for instance, the kind
of environment at a general hospital’s psych unit is
wrong for a fragile older person. Our acute psychiatric
unit enables the Jewish Home to serve those who
haven't been well-served in the past.”
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Jewish Senior Living 2009/ 2010