A collaboration between Long Island Alzheimer's Foundation and North Shore University Hospital is improving quality of care for geriatric patients with Alzheimer's and other diseases, according to a report presented at the annual meeting of the American Geriatrics Society.

The Geriatric Memory Disorder Program provides consultations and diagnostic services, as well as social services, counseling and referrals to older patients with dementia.

"Cooperation between the outpatient department of an academic division of geriatric medicine and a not-for-profit community agency…(enabled the program) to extend medical and social services to patients who might not otherwise have received them," said Dr. H.J. Guzik.

In the first 36 months of the program, joint evaluations by hospital physicians and social workers were conducted on behalf of local residents, aged 65 and older.

The results, he said, were that hundreds of patients received referrals for services like neuropsychological testing, adult day care, eldercare outreach and other programs.

Other Sources: American Geriatric Society