Healthy Aging Among Filipinos
By: Francis M. Capalongan, MD., FPAMS IM;FPCGG
We probably run across the word “Geriatrics” which is a branch of medicine that deals on health promotion, prevention, and treatment of diseases and disability in later life. As geriatricians, we are specialty trained medical doctors in preventing and managing older adults with uncommon, and oftentimes, multiple health problems.
As people get older, they react to illness and diseases with more difficulty than our younger counterparts. Geriatricians are able to treat, manage multiple disease symptoms and develop care plans to address their special health needs.
Geriatric practice is a relatively new field that focuses on the care of the aging and the aged. Catering to the needs of the elderly patients is a specialty in itself. We keep chronic illness and disability to one side as long as possible, while we maintain their wellness, a growing trend in health care, thereby making them useful active members of the society, and lessen their susceptibility to health deterioration.
A team of health care professionals is required to work together in the medical evaluation of our older adults. A geriatric team includes a geriatrician, clinical nurse, social worker, at least, uses all of one’s skills, to strive for total patient care in the fullest sense. The team also assesses the ability of the patient activity of daily living as bathing, toileting, dressing, and eating. We should be consulted regardless of the older person’s age, whether their condition causes considerable stress, impairment, and disability to family members, relatives, and caregivers.
Our role is to train family members, medical and paramedical personnel to properly care for order people. There are several institutions that have to set up facilities specifically for the care of elderly to bring senior citizens together of which the goals include physical, mental well-being, to make a significant difference in the lives of his valuable segment of our society.