Nova Scotia Health opens geriatric medicine clinic in Dartmouth
Clinic will help older adults in Dartmouth and Eastern Shore access care closer to home, says health authority
A Nova Scotia Health official says the opening of a geriatric medicine clinic in Dartmouth, N.S., should allow more older adults to be seen by the health-care system in a timely fashion and allow them to stay at home longer.
The health authority recently opened a third clinic in the central zone at a location on the Dartmouth General Hospital campus.
While there's a clinic in Halifax at the Camp Hill Veterans' Memorial Building, the one at the Cobequid Community Health Centre is only open one day a week, said Dr. Alison Dixon, a geriatrician with Nova Scotia Health.
She said that opening the Dartmouth clinic will improve care for older adults living in Dartmouth and the Eastern Shore.
"Sometimes, patients coming to us might not be able to drive," she said. "They may be experiencing trouble with memory and thinking. And it was a large barrier at the time, the cost and the ability to travel into the appointment. And so by having a clinic over in Dartmouth, we're better able to serve the communities there closer to home."
How to access the clinic
The geriatric medicine clinics are meant for adults 65 and above who are experiencing frailty, dementia, increased falls or other age-related health issues, according to a news release.
Patients must get a referral by their doctor or nurse practitioner to be seen by the clinic.
Dixon said patients can be seen at the clinic, through home-based visits or through telephone calls.
She said adding the Dartmouth clinic may lead to a 40 per cent increase in new patients being seen, which is important given Nova Scotia's aging population.
Improved quality of life
Dixon said seeing older patients in a timely fashion can significantly impact their quality of life.
"When people are experiencing problems with their memory and thinking, when people are experiencing problems with mobility or falls, these things can make the difference between coming into hospital and going to the emergency department, can make the difference for some people of whether I'm able to live at home and live independently," she said.
"So for a lot of people, it's life and death, but it's also, 'Can I stay at home and maintain this level of function?'"
