Annual Report to the Community 2006 - 2007
30,000
Copies distributed this year, in print and online, of Responding to Older Adults with Substance Use, Mental Health and Gambling
Challenges: A Guide for Workers and Volunteers
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Under the leadership of Clinical Director Dr. Benoit Mulsant, this year’s achievements of CAMH’s Geriatric Mental Health Program
included:
- an increase in fully utilized inpatient beds from 24 to 48
- a new central intake and referral system
- a reorganized Multilingual Memory Clinic to better assess clients and communicate with referring physicians
- an expanded staff team with new psychiatrists, a primary care doctor, advanced practice and research nurses, a nurse educator
and more residents
- improved health outcomes for clients
Connecting research with geriatric treatment
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(Click image for larger view) Geriatric Mental Health Clinical Director Dr. Benoit Mulsant, Inpatient Manager Rong Ting, and Leonard Chapman, a client in
the program. Dr. Mulsant was appointed as CAMH’s Physician-in-Chief this year.
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Dr. Benoit Mulsant is a champion of integrating research into CAMH’s Geriatric Program. “There is far too much that we still
don't know,” he says. “Many of the drugs that we prescribe to seniors have been tested in younger people. Likewise, only younger
people have participated in the positron emission tomography (PET) studies being done to understand mental illness. We need
to also include seniors in these important studies.”
For the first time, a team of top scientists is working with the Geriatric Program in key areas, such as:
- optimal drug prescribing for older clients
- brain function in geriatric psychiatry, Alzheimer’s disease and late-life schizophrenia.
The Geriatric Program will soon open a repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (RTMS) clinic, on a pilot basis. The clinic
will allow clients with hard-to-treat depression access to a breakthrough treatment developed by CAMH researchers. “This is
an exciting new development that illustrates how research can translate directly into care,” says Dr. Mulsant.
Increased capacity allows the Geriatric Program to take on new clients with more acute psychiatric problems and medical needs.
Among these are 45 long-term clients from CAMH’s Schizophrenia and Mood and Anxiety programs, who have reached age 60 and
have new issues related to aging. Clients benefit from new treatment approaches, as well as stronger links to community providers
and long-term care homes. As a result of intensive work by the entire program team, some clients are making successful transitions
to living in the community. Research Nurse Regina Simon says that for one woman who was discharged after 20 years, “it was
her dream come true.”
1 in 5
Number of Canadians who will personally experience mental illness
| 6 in 10
Estimated number of people with mental illness or addictions who go without treatment
| 1000
Visitors per week to the newly launched website
www.problemgambling.ca |
“If we want to advance and provide better care, we need research. It is the backbone of our knowledge, and will change the
lives of older people.”
Regina Simon, Research Nurse, Geriatric Mental Health Program |
“Our partnerships with long-term care homes build capacity on the front lines of health care delivery. They're a great example
of the way CAMH is working with providers in the community to build an integrated range of services and supports for older
people with addiction and mental health concerns.”
Dr. Benoit Mulsant, Clinical Director, Geriatric Mental Health Program and CAMH Physician-in-Chief |
Building capacity in the community
This year, the Geriatric Program took part in an assessment, by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, of the training
needs of staff in the province’s 84 long-term care homes. Now, as a result, CAMH is providing clinical services to 27 long-term
care homes in Toronto and 40 in Peel. Weekly visits from CAMH outreach teams help nursing home staff and general practitioners
manage residents with complex behavioural and psychological issues.
Making Connections: Integration in Mental Health and Addiction