Geriatric care

Caring for an older adult is not the same work as caring for a forty-year-old with the same diagnosis. Medications behave differently. A urinary tract infection presents as confusion. A fall is rarely just a fall. That’s what the extra training is for, and it’s why our appointments are long.

• Cognitive and memory evaluation, including workup for reversible causes
• Medication review and reduction — the most common unmet need in older adults
• Fall risk assessment and prevention
• Functional assessment: what someone can still do safely at home, and what they can’t
• Management of multiple chronic conditions in combination
• Care planning conversations with family members present
• Coordination with home care, visiting nurses, and community services
• House calls for patients who can’t easily travel are available through our Home Visit Program
• Care at local nursing and rehabilitation facilities
• Advance care planning and goals-of-care discussions

Family members are welcome at every appointment, and in geriatric care they’re usually necessary. The daughter who noticed the mail piling up. The son who found three bottles of the same medication. That information is clinical, and it rarely comes from the patient. We’ll talk to all of you, answer the questions nobody wanted to ask in front of Mom, and make sure everyone leaves understanding the same plan.

Memory evaluation here starts by ruling out what’s fixable. Medication side effects, thyroid dysfunction, B12 deficiency, depression, sleep apnea, and hearing loss all present as cognitive decline, and all are treatable.

When the diagnosis is dementia, we are ready to provide the best possible memory care.

Dr. Candow makes home visits on a regular circuit through the towns around Putnam for patients who can’t easily travel, through our Home Visit Program (requires enrollment and an additional fee). 

We also see patients at Westview Healthcare Center a local nursing and rehabilitation facilities, including short-term rehab stays — so a hospitalization or a move doesn’t mean starting over with a stranger.