What is a Geriatrician?

What is a geriatrician, and why might you need one?

I am a specialist medical doctor with certification in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, who provides specialized, comprehensive assessment and care of seniors.

Is a referral needed?

Usually consulted by a family doctor, I provide opinions about brain health, mobility, mood and medications.  Much of my job as a Geriatrician is busting some of the myths about normal aging.

Consider the following

A 98-year-old man visits his doctor to complain about a pain in his left knee.  The doctor says: “What do you expect? That left knee has been carrying you for 98 years!”  The older gentleman replies: “So has my right knee, but it’s not sore!” 

Is it normal aging?

Many assume that it’s part of the normal aging process to become frail and dependent, but that is not so.  Most nonagenarians in Canada are living at home with a partner.   Of all those over 65, less than 5% are in a special care home for seniors.  Yet, I meet many people who think that it’s normal for seniors to stop banking, cooking and shovelling, and start napping, falling and forgetting.  As a result, many family members will assume that the changes they observe in a senior are typical, even normal, and not a cause for further investigation or intervention.  The Geriatrician’s role can be to clarify how a senior’s trajectory may have deviated from that of usual aging, and what to expect for the future.