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A Mobile, Mental‐Hospital‐Based Team for Geropsychiatric Service in the Community
Author(s) -
SHERR VIRGINIA T.,
ESKRIDGE O. CARL,
LEWIS SANDY
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1976.tb03313.x
Subject(s) - medicine , residence , service (business) , nursing , geriatrics , institution , psychiatric hospital , nursing homes , psychiatry , gerontology , demography , economy , sociology , political science , law , economics
ABSTRACT: At Norristown State Hospital a mobile Team of workers was organized to give personalized and preventive psychiatric, medical and social attention to distressed elderly people within the communities served by this large psychiatric institution. The Team's mobility permitted flexible approaches to problem‐solving at the person's own home or other place of residence. Over its 8.5 years of existence the Team evaluated 1,438 elderly persons and acted in a consultant capacity to 77 nursing or retirement homes. Most of these clients were treated successfully within the community; only 222 required admission to the parent hospital during that time. Those treated in their own homes usually were able to maintain or improve the quality of their lives. The timely psychiatric, medical and social help often uncovered physical and social factors that previously had been overlooked.