TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher will speak at a dedication ceremony for the Mary Starke Harper Geriatric Psychiatry Center in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday, May 8. The noon luncheon ceremony at Tuscaloosa’s NorthRiver Yacht Club will cap a two-day series of workshops at The University of Alabama’s Bryant Conference Center focusing on care of the elderly.
The center’s namesake, Dr. Mary Starke Harper, is an Alabama native whose many accomplishments include serving as an advisor on mental health issues to former Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. Harper, now a Tuscaloosa resident, has been instrumental in putting together the workshops. (See biographical information on next page.)
Satcher, who grew up near Anniston, was sworn in as the 16th Surgeon General of the United States in February 1998. He previously served as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and as president of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn.
The workshops, set for Monday, May 7, and Tuesday, May 8, are titled “Breakthroughs, Consensus and Best Practices in the Care of the Elderly in the Past Decade: Implications for the Next Decade.” The program includes a wide range of panel discussions with moderators and speakers from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging; Harvard, Yale, Emory and Vanderbilt universities; the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Pittsburgh; the Brookdale Foundation, Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York and other organizations. Alabama speakers are well represented with experts from UA, UAB, the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and other agencies.
Fifteen clinical workshops designed for health care professionals will focus on such topics as “Care of Elderly by Members of the Family,” “Assessment and Measure of Behavior in the Elderly, Tests for Depression, Dementia, Confusion,” and “Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, Polypharmacy and the Elderly.”
Two consumer workshops are planned for Monday from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Bryant Conference Center. Free to the public, these workshops address issues of great concern to elderly patients and their caregivers. They include:
Brown Bag Check-Ups
Elderly persons accompanied by their family caregivers are invited to bring all their medications, including both prescription and over-the-counter medicines, along with dietary supplements and herbal remedies, in a shopping bag for review by a pharmacist, physician or nurse practitioner. These professionals will review medications for possible drug-drug or drug-food interactions, discoloration, expiration dates, incorrect storage and other concerns. Patients and their families will have an opportunity to ask questions concerning medications.
The Trouble Clinic
Caregivers are invited to this workshop to discuss “troubling experiences” in managing frail or bedridden elderly people at home. Experiences may range from wandering at night to noncompliance with prescribed medical directions to dealing with incontinence. Again, caregivers will have an opportunity to discuss their concerns with health care professionals. Resource materials will be available.
Mary Starke Harper
Born in Fort Mitchell, Ala., Harper has devoted her life to improving health care for America’s older citizens. The granddaughter of a slave, she earned a diploma in nursing at Tuskegee Institute, bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate in sociology and psychology from St. Louis University. She also holds honorary doctorates from Tuskegee University and St. Joseph College in Bronx, N.Y.
Harper’s career with the federal government spans six decades. She spent 30 years with the Veteran’s Administration directing nationwide research and education to improve treatment programs for veterans. Her 25-year career with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services included serving as coordinator of long-term care programs at the National Institute of Mental Health. There, she established the first National Research and Development Center in Mental Health for Asian Americans, American Indians, Blacks and Hispanics.
Harper served as a special advisor on mental health and aging to former presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. She served as co-chair of the Clinton administration’s Mental Health/Public Sector Task Force for Healthcare Reform and as director of the Office of Policy Development and Research for the 1981 and 1995 White House Conferences on Aging.
Harper continues to serve as a member of the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Aging National Advisory Council; consultant to the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Healthcare at Tuskegee University; co-chair of the research committee of the Office of Women’s Health Expert Panel, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and secretary of the American Association of International Aging. She is an adjunct professor at The University of Alabama.
The Mary Starke Harper Geriatric Psychiatric Center is a facility of the Alabama State Department of Mental Health and Retardation. It is located on the campus of Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa.
Contact
Cathy Andreen, Director of Media Relations, 205/348-8322