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Efforts to Curb Seniors’ Drug, Alcohol Abuse Must Continue
By Michael Barnard,
The Desert Sun
February 9, 2009
Everyone knows that a person of any age should not mix alcohol with drugs or medications, right?
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, alcohol and prescription drug misuse and abuse among older adults is one of the most rapidly growing public health problems in the United States and is expected to increase as the baby boomer generation ages.
It is estimated that this problem may affect as many as 17 percent of adults age 60 and older nationwide, resulting in increased health complications, visits to emergency rooms, hospitalizations and premature deaths.
In fact, medication errors account for 7,000 deaths annually, and rates for alcohol-related hospitalizations are similar to those for heart attacks.
In California, by the year 2020, close to 1 million adults older than 60 are expected to experience problems related to substance abuse, accounting for $8 billion to $10 billion annually in associated health care costs.
Hitting close to home
The Coachella Valley has a disproportionately high number of elderly residents. Adults older than 60 represent 28 percent of the population; this is 12 percent higher than the county as a whole.
In 2006, a study conducted by the Coachella Valley Health Collaborative identified alcohol and drug abuse as top health issues that need to be addressed among adults, including seniors. In 2008, UCLA School of Medicine researchers conducted a study among older adults in primary care in the Coachella Valley. They found a higher-than-normal number of risk factors related to substance misuse or abuse, indicating an urgent problem that needs immediate attention.
Most physicians do not routinely screen their older patients for alcohol consumption, even though age-validated screening instruments are available, and many have insufficient knowledge of a patient's alcohol use to safely prescribe medications. Consequently, they may miss the opportunity to provide prevention education and early intervention, despite the fact that studies support the effectiveness of brief intervention.
Furthermore, research shows that older substance abusers require different treatment strategies than their younger counterparts. Currently, there are no treatment centers in the Coachella Valley that provide age-specific programming.
Beneficial changes
Desert Samaritans for the Elderly has begun to address this issue by involving community organizations and agencies in an education program to train social service and health care providers on how to identify, prevent and manage the problem, with more than 125 participants attending four presentations.
The program has been developed and managed by Rita Strombeck, Ph.D., an expert in the field of substance misuse/abuse in older adults.
Strombeck has been the principal investigator on 10 research grant projects funded by the National Institutes of Health and has developed and conducted training programs on a wide variety of health issues pertaining to older adults, including substance abuse.
By expanding its outreach educational programming on this important issue, Desert Samaritans for the Elderly will be working to improve the health and well-being of the older adults it serves, their families and their local communities.
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