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Thursday, December 15, at 8 PM
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Americans are living longer than ever as a result of advances in medicine. A byproduct of our successes in this area is an ever-increasing aging population whose health and well-being has never been as significant a national and state issue as it is today. According to a 2003 report from the North Carolina Division of Public Health and the Division of Aging, the state ranks 10th in the nation in the number of older persons, with about 2.3 million residents age 50 and older - that represents 28 percent of the total North Carolina population. The health issues for people age 50 and older range from osteoporosis and Alzheimer's to prescription drug management and eldercare quality. North Carolina Now correspondent Christine Rogers moderates a panel of leading experts to discuss the health issues affecting North Carolina's older population on Healthwise: Senior Health.
Panelists:
Mary Bethel
Associate State Director for Advocacy, AARP North Carolina
Ms. Bethel works to develop and implement AARP advocacy activities and initiatives in the state. Prior to coming to AARP in October of 2005, she worked for over 28 years with the N.C. Division of Aging and Adult Services where she served in a variety of administrative and program capacities. While at the Division, she served as lead staff person for external and legislative affairs, for matters related to consumer advocacy, for health promotion program efforts, for issues related to prescription drug assistance, and for matters related to special population groups. She also provided staff support to the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging and to the N.C. Senior Tar Heel Legislature.
Lisa P. Gwyther,
MSW
Director, Duke Aging Center Family Support Program
Education Director, Duke's Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
Ms. Gwyther
is a social worker with over 35 years experience working with older people and their families, including twenty-eight years at Duke University Medical Center. Ms. Gwyther directs the Duke Aging Center Family Support Program, a state-funded
central information clearinghouse for families and professionals caring for people with memory disorders or other chronic late-life conditions. She is the education director of Duke's Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and an Associate Clinical Professor in the Duke
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She has published widely on Alzheimer's disease and family caregiving.
Dennis W. Streets, MPH, MAT, LNHA
Chief of the Planning, Budget and Systems Support Section of the Division of Aging and Adult Services, NC Department of Health and Human Services
Mr. Streets' responsibilities include facilitation of the Division’s overall strategic planning, program evaluation, and systems and resource development activities for older North Carolinians and for aging in North Carolina; facilitation of the internal operations of the Division through joint planning and communications; promotion of the State's 17 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) as an effective extension and partner of the Division; identification and pursuit of opportunities for grants, student internships, public and private partnerships, and other means of increasing the capacity of the Division; oversight of a comprehensive repository of data and information on aging; production of reports, papers, articles, and other means of communicating news, issues and recommendations relevant to aging policies and programs; and oversight of the Division’s web site as a means of communicating to older adults, family caregivers, aging boomers, local service providers, students, policymakers, and the general public.
(Still awaiting complete bio)
Stephen Kritchevsky, Ph.D.
Professor of Internal Medicine, Gerontology and Geriatrics,
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
Dr. Kritchevsky specializes in research related to the benefits of exercise and good nutrition for seniors. He also is the Research Director of the J. Paul Sticht Center on Aging. Dr. Kritchevsky is an epidemiologist who studies the role of diet and exercise in preventing the development of disability in older adults.
Dr. Jan Busby-Whitehead
UNC-Chapel Hill Program on Aging
Division Chief, Division of Geriatric Medicine
Dr. Jan Busby-Whitehead, MD, is the director of the Program on Aging at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, as well as professor and chief in the Division of Geriatric Medicine. She received her medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, TX. A fellowship-trained geriatrician, she is board certified in internal medicine. In 1994 she joined the faculty at the UNC School of Medicine, where she serves on numerous boards and committees that focus on the medical care of older adults.
She has many areas of expertise in the care of elderly patients, but one of her main interests at the present moment is the strengthening of training of physicians in how to care for senior adults, a challenge she is meeting with support from a prestigious Donald W. Reynolds Foundation grant to develop comprehensive programs to improve physician’s training in geriatrics. The White House recently showed its acknowledgment of Dr. Busby-Whitehead’s leadership in this area when it invited her to participate in the White House Conference on Aging.
Dr. Tony Galanos
Center for Palliative Care
Duke University Medical Center
Dr. Tony Galanos is a geriatrician, a senior researcher in the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development at Duke, Clinical Director of the Palliative Care service at Duke, and Medical Director of Geriatric Medicine Associates at DUMC. His interests are Continuing Care Retirement Communities and hospital care of the older patient.
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