Older adult mental health conference hits all the right notes with 200 in attendance
The second annual Geriatric Psychiatry Conference-North Shore held last Friday (Feb. 28) at Lions Gate Hospital Gymnasium was another success! We more than doubled last year’s capacity to 200 participants due to overwhelming request to increase available seats.
Attendees learned about suicide, participated in music therapy, tested their recently acquired learning in psychotic disorders, SMMSE and P.I.E.C.E.S., and learned that the response to hoarding is not exactly how the TV show that shall remain unnamed portrays. All in all, participants were treated to a fun, relevant, educational experience with food and drink (non-alcoholic) and musical interludes.
The annual conference was created to provide accessible (FREE) and relevant education that geriatric psychiatric healthcare providers could implement into their everyday practice. The organizing committee: Dr Arvind Kang, Dr Dean Brown, Tanis Evans and Linda Feng; wish to thank all the speakers that donated their time and the especially the Older Adult Mental Health Team that orchestrated the massive undertaking of running the conference so smoothly as possible.
Local experts who provided interactive and engaging presentations were:
- Dr Susan More-Geriatric Psychiatrist (Suicide in the Elderly)
- Susan Summers-Music Therapist (Music Therapy-Role in Dementia and Elder Care)
- Dr Gharakhanian-Geriatric Psychiatrist (Psychotic Disorders in the Elderly)
- Dr Elisabeth Drance-Geriatric Psychiatrist (P.I.E.C.E.S-Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, Capability, Environment, Social-for Managing Behaviors in Dementia)
- Staci Kalmek-Occupational Therapist (Standardized Mini-Mental State Examination: Administration, Scoring and Application)
- Dianne Cook-Mental Health and Addictions Support Worker and
- Chris Short-Fire Inspector (HART-Hoarding Action Response Team-Vancouver-Updates)
As a plug for next year’s conference and due to the overwhelming positive feedback (yes we do read the evaluation forms, emails and listen to your comments) please save the date for next year’s annual geriatric psychiatry conference for the end of February!