Skip to content Accessibility tools

Addressing the Crisis in Geriatric Care: Empowering Professionals for a Brighter Future

A nurse and an older adult smile at each other

We who work in the field of elder care are all too aware that the current need for more services for older adults is far outweighed by the number of professionals choosing to work with this demographic. 

Medical science and enhanced preventative healthcare measures have made the miracle of longevity possible. However, our culture’s deeply implicit ageism bias toward older adults too often renders working with them undesirable. This is not just unfortunate for those who are presently older, but also does not bode well for future generations who may one day be faced with even fewer professionals who are interested and properly trained to work with their specific concerns and needs.  

In the January 16 issue of the New York Times, writer Pamela Paul details the trend among healthcare professionals to steer away from older adult care, despite finding the work rewarding. Her opinion piece, The Decline in Geriatric Care Hurts Us all, states “Faced with a persistent shortage of geriatricians, elder health care advocates increasingly see the future of geriatrics in more of a research and advisory capacity than in direct clinical care.” But without enough direct clinical and other professional care for older adults, who will advise and guide elders through the practical concerns of the aging process? 

One area of specialization that is direly lacking in properly trained professionals in the U.S. is decisional capacity assessment, the discernment of a person’s ability to formulate logical and healthy decisions about their life, including medical, legal and financial decisions. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office states that “an evaluation of a potential victim’s capacity by a qualified evaluator is essential to making ethical charging decisions in elder abuse and other important cases, yet prosecutors throughout the country often lack access to evaluators who can conduct these evaluations properly.” In King County, there are only a handful of people trained to correctly conduct these assessments, and most cases are currently handled largely by one clinician. Without more trained professionals to perform these assessments correctly, older adults are more prone to exploitation.  

As our commitment to expanding interest in the field of elder care continues, EEI is excited to announce that in March of 2025, we will be launching the Decisional Capacity Assessment Professional Training Program taught by Karin Taifour, MA, LMHC, GMHS, one of the state’s few decisional capacity experts. With so few across the nation trained in decisional capacity assessment, EEI’s goal is to equip professionals from a variety of professions to perform this important skill so that older adults’ rights are upheld and their agency over their lives continues as long as is possible. 


The Elder Education Institute at Sound Generations in Seattle recognizes the need for more professionals with specialized training to work with older adults so they may age with dignity and grace. Our programs and workshops aim to help increase the number of trained professionals in the field of elder care with our professional level workshops and programs that train clinicians and other service providers who work with older adults. EEI’s workshops and programs focus on the mental health needs and concerns of older adults, drawing licensed mental health professionals, social workers, case workers, fire-fighters, law enforcement, and other professionals to its programs. 

For more information about the Elder Education Institute and our programs, please visit our web page https://soundgenerations.org/eldereducationinstitute/ 

Or contact Alison Laird Craig, Program Manager, Elder Education Institute, Sound Generations at alisonc@soundgenerations.org 


Alison Laird Craig is the Program Manager of the Elder Education Institute at Sound Generations, where she works with experts in the field of elder care and geriatric mental health to offer professional level trainings to clinicians and other service providers who work with older adults.Alison Laird Craig

 

 

 

Posted in Services

COMMUNITY LIVING CONNECTIONS

VIEW CURRENT CALENDAR

DON’T MISS AN ISSUE

Poll