Aurora Health Care Sponsors Education Event to Improve Care for t...( ...),Health

MILWAUKEE, July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- A hospital visit for an older adult can easily turn into a downward slide into a nursing home. In an effort to prevent such scenarios and to improve health care for the elderly, Aurora Health Care is sponsoring a continuing medical education event Friday, July 17, at the Marquette University Wealser Auditorium.

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The need for such education is critical. The number of older adults in the US will soar to 70 million by 2030, when nearly 20 percent of the population will be 65 or older. At the same time a persistent shortage of geriatric caregivers is expected to intensify, impeding the delivery of chronic care to the elderly.

To help ease this need, more than 320 medical professionals are expected to attend the "Going from Good to Great in the Acute Care of Older Adults" event.

The conference, now in its fourth year, brings together medical professionals from Aurora Health Care as well as from across the country, including national experts on geriatric medicine.

Dr. Michael Malone, medical director of senior services at Aurora Health Care and professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, says care for the elderly is not the same as for other adults.

"For 50-year-olds, it may be enough for the doctor to simply put them on a medication while they are in the hospital," Dr. Malone says. "For 85 year olds, just getting the right medicine isn't enough. After a few days in bed they often can't get up on their own, and they may need to go to a skilled care facility. It is imperative that caregivers have a system that identifies vulnerable older adults and gets them on
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