WVGS Annual Continuing Education Conference

Lakeview Golf Resort & Spa

Morgantown, WV

October 14, 2005

This conference is designed for healthcare professionals, clinicians, service providers, nursing home administrators, academicians, researchers, advocacy groups, family and professional caregivers and leaders in both the private and public sectors in the field of aging.

Participants in this conference will:

Be up-to-date with current practice and research, including new evidence-based recommendations for the interdisciplinary management of problems commonly encountered in the elderly patient, including sleep disorders, dementia, urinary incontinence, driving, pain, falling, depression and alcoholism.
Understand the principles of team-based geriatric clinical practice.

Schedule

7:00 - 7:45 am Registration

7:45 - 8:00 am Welcome
Robert M. D’Alessandri, MD - Vice President for Health Sciences, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center at West Virginia University

8:00 - 8:45 am Alzheimer’s: The Current Science
Daniel Alkon, MD, Scientific Director, Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute
This presentation will discuss the seriousness of Alzheimer’s and the ongoing research being done to relieve the suffering that illnesses of the elderly brain produce.

8:45 - 9:30 am Sleep and Circadian Rhythms: Implications for Successful Aging
Phyllis C. Zee, MD, PhD - Associate Professor of Neurology, Neurobiology and Physiology, Northwestern University
This presentation will review the many remediable factors that interrupt sleep in elders and suggest practical solutions for them.

9:30 - 9:45 am Break

9:45 - 10:30 am Gait, Balance, and Falls
George J. Caranasos, MD - Director of the Geriatric Education Center, University of Florida
This presentation will deal with common gait disorders in the elderly, risk factors for falls, assessing the risk for falls, and methods of improving gait and balance to decrease the risk of falls.

10:30 - 11:15 am Pain in the Elderly
Vincent DeLaGarza, MD - Associate professor of Family Medicine, West Virginia University
During this presentation, new approaches to pain in the elderly, especially chronic benign pain, with a short review of the biological basis for therapy will be discussed.

11:15 - 1:00 pm Lunch and “The Real Doc Hollywood” Salutes the Senior Health Care Team
Neil Shulman, MD - Author
This presentation will give insight into impacting medical literacy for seniors and teach how to incorporate humor into life. Dr. Shulman will discuss using humor to convey the message behind the story of “Doc Hollywood.” He will explain how to reach seniors with a creative spin and explain how a team effort can make a big difference and provide innovative ideas for caring for the caregiver.

1:00 - 1:45 pm GAMMA: Geriatric Alcohol, Mood and Memory Assessment
Richard J. Ham, MD - Director, WVU Center on Aging
Konrad C. Nau, MD - Associate Dean and Chair, Dept. of Family Medicine, WVU Health Sciences, Eastern Division
Sara Jane Gainor, MBA, CAC - Director, Mountain State Geriatric Education Center, WVU Center
on Aging
GAMMA (Geriatric Alcoholism, Mood and Memory Assessment) is an instrument used for identifying, confirming and assessing, investigating, diagnosing and initially treating the three most common mind and mood problems of older adults: dementia, depression and alcoholism. GAMMA helps increase recognition, diagnosis and treatment of all three problems, in primary through tertiary clinical practice.

1:45 - 2:30 pm Elderly Driving Assessment
Shirley Neitch, MD, Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Section of Geriatrics, Marshall University
This presentation will teach health care professionals to recognize that older drivers’ safety is a public health issue. The presentation will show that older drivers-age-related health problems are not uniform, help to interpret the conflict inherent in “need to drive” vs “identified defects in driving skills.” Physicians have a valid role in driving assessment and applying a simple driving assessment tool in an office practice is helpful in guaranteeing the safety of patients.

2:30 - 2:45 pm Break

2:45 - 3:30 pm Evaluation and Management of Urinary Incontinence
Darryl S. Chutka, MD, Geriatrician, Division of Preventive and Occupational Medicine, Mayo Clinic
This presentation illustrates the mechanism of normal urination and will describe the anatomic and physiologic changes that take place with aging that effect urination and predispose an individual to urinary incontinence. The presentation will review the various types, evaluation and describe treatment available.

3:30 - 4:30 pm WVGS Business Meeting

Speakers

Daniel L. Alkon, MD
Dr. Alkon is the Scientific Director at the Blanchette Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. He and his colleagues have discovered a convergence of memory physiology and pathophysiology that is guiding development of diagnostics and drug discovery with potential to treat neurodegenerative disorders, mental retardation, and attention-deficit disorders. As an internationally recognized pioneer in research on brain-based neural networks and the molecular basis of memory, he has authored hundreds of scientific articles as well as several books.

George J. Caranasos, MD
Dr. Caranasos is presently Director of the Geriatric Education Center and Professor Emeritus, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL. In addition, he served as Chief of the Internal Medicine Division, College of Medicine for 23 years. He is a Diplomate with the American Board of Internal Medicine and holds a Certificate of Added Qualifications in Geriatric Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of many gerontological and medical organizations.

Daryl S. Chutka, MD
Dr. Chutka is an internist and geriatrician in the Division of Preventive and Occupational Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. He attended Stanford as a Mayo Foundation Scholar and completed a fellowship in geriatrics. He subsequently practiced geriatrics for 19 years and was program director of the Geriatrics Fellowship at Mayo before transferring to Preventive Medicine in 2000. He has received several awards from Mayo Medical School including Teacher of the Year (1991,1994, 2000), Dean’s Recognition Award and the Dept. of Medicine Medical School Education Award.

Vincent W. DeLaGarza, MD
Dr. DeLaGaraza received his medical degree from the University of Maryland in 1976. He completed his Family Medicine Residency in the USAF in 1979. In 1999 he did a geriatric fellowship at Johns Hopkins. He became board certified in Family Medicine, Geriatrics, Hospice and Palliative Care, certified in home care and long-term care. Currently, Dr. DeLaGarza is an Associate Professor in Family Medicine at WVU.

Sara Jane Gainor, MBA
Sara Jane Gainor has been the Program Director for the Mountain State Geriatric Education Center, since 1997. Prior to coming to WVU, she was the program director for addiction treatment and educational programs at several WV hospitals for over 20 years. Ms. Gainor is also Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Community Medicine at WVU.

Richard J. Ham, MD
Dr. Ham is the Director of the WVU Center on Aging and Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Psychiatry at the WVU School of Medicine. Dr. Ham is a nationally and internationally renowned educator, with an emphasis in Alzheimer’s and other dementias. He is also a past president of the AGS, Fellow of AGS and GSA, and lead author and editor of the book Primary Care Geriatrics: A Case Based Approach.

Konrad C. Nau, MD
Dr. Nau is the Associate Dean and chair of the Dept. of Family Medicine of the WVU Health Sciences Center - Eastern Division. He holds CAQs in Geriatrics and Sports Medicine and is also the Geriatrics Medicine Residency Program Director. Special interests include rural physician leadership, palliative care, postgraduate geriatrics training, and longitudinal medical student geriatrics education.

Shirley M. Neitch, MD
Dr. Neitch is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Section of Geriatrics at Marshall University. She serves as director of the Hanshaw Geriatric Center/Susan Edwards Drake Alzheimer’s Care Center, Medical Director of the Woodlands Retirement Community. Dr. Neitch serves on the Expert Advisory Panel for the UMWA Health and Retirement Funds’ Demonstration Project for CMS’ “Medicare Coverage of Prescription Drugs” program.

Neil B. Shulman, MD
Dr. Shulman is an author from Decatur, GA. As the Associate Producer of the movie Doc Hollywood and author of the book that inspired the movie, he has inspired physicians, nurses, and health care workers throughout the rural health landscape to infuse humor into the challenges they meet every day. He is one of the most recognized in the country for his outstanding contributions to preventative medicine and as a comic guest lecturer.

Phyllis C. Zee, MD, PhD
Dr. Zee is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology and Physiology and Director of the Sleep Disorders Program at Northwestern University. The focus of Dr. Zee’s research is to study the effects of aging on sleep and circadian rhythms. After completing her residency, she became a National Institutes of Health sponsored post-doctoral fellow in Neurobiology and Physiology at Northwestern University. In 1989, she joined the faculty of the Dept. of Neurology.

Continuing Education Credits

Licensed social workers can receive 6.50 contact hours through the WVU Center on Aging to meet continuing education requirements related to professional licensure. The Center on Aging is an approved CE provider by the West Virginia Board of Social Work Examiners. Provider number: 490011

Licensed nurses can receive 6.30 contact hours related to prefessional licensure through the Mountain State Geriatric Education Center. The MSGEC is an approved provider by the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses. Provider number: WV2004-0458RN

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of the WVU School of Medicine, the WVU Center on Aging and the WV Geriatrics Society. The WVU School of Medicine is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The WVU Office of CME designates this educational activity for a maximum of 6.75 category 1 credits toward the AMA Physician’s Recognition Award. Each physician should claim only those credits that he/she actually spent in the activity.

Disclosure Information

In accordance with the ACCME requirements on disclosure, the presenters have all indicated that they do not have any significant interests to disclose and they will not be discussing unlabeled uses of any products.

Lodging Information

A limited number of rooms have been reserved at Lakeview Golf Resort & Spa at the rate of $99.00 for Thursday night and $225.00 for Friday/Saturday (2 night minimum stay Fri/Sat). Daily breakfast buffet is included. Reservations may be made by calling the Reservation Department at 1-800-624-8300 and asking for a room in the WVU Center on Aging room block.

Golf Tee Times and Recreation
A group rate is available for conference attendees under the WVU Center on Aging rate for the Lakeview Course. The rate is $39.00 for 18 holes including a cart. Tee times will be made on an individual basis by calling the pro shop at 304-594-2011. Any tee time cancelled within 30 days of arrival will be charged 100%.