PART 1 INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 A Primer for Disaster and Emergency Preparedness and Evidence-based Care Practices in Geriatric Mental Health

Chapter 2 Older Persons in Disasters and Emergencies: The Overlapping Mental and Physical Health Issues

Chapter 3 The Geriatric Emergency Preparedness and Response (GEPR) Collaborative: A Successful and Productive Network

PART 2 COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO THE NEEDS OF OLDER PERSONS IN DISASTERS

Chapter 4 Coordinating Services: State and Local Networks and Resources

Chapter 5 National and Cross-National Models of Geriatric Disaster Preparedness: The Canadian Context

Chapter 6 Supervision and Facilitated Reflective Practice As Central to Disaster Preparedness Services to the Older Adult: A National and Cross-National Model

Chapter 7 Making the Community Plan: A Public Health Perspective

Chapter 8 Self Help Tools for Older Persons and Their Caregivers

Chapter 9 Volunteers -Who Are They and What Are Their Roles?

PART 3 CLINICAL RESPONSE TO THE NEEDS OF OLDER PERSONS DURING DISASTERS

Chapter 10 Psychosocial and Pharmacological Interventions for Older Persons in Disasters

Chapter 11 Case Management For Older Persons in Disasters

Chapter 12 Complementary and Alternative Approaches

PART 4 IDENTIFYING AND CLASSIFYING MENTAL AND RELATED HEALTH PROBLEMS

Chapter 13 The Interdisciplinary Treatment Team as a Geriatric Mental Health Resource Prior To and During Disasters

Chapter 14 Geriatric Assessment for Differential Diagnosis

Chapter 15 Bereavement and Grief: What Is Normal in Disasters and Emergencies?

PART 5 SPECIAL POPULATIONS

Chapter 16 The Experience of Vulnerability in Geriatric Combat Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder During Times of Disaster

Chapter 17 Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders

Chapter 18 Disaster Related Elder Mistreatment (DREM)

Appendices

I. A Guide to Developing Training Programs for Disaster Preparedness for Older Persons

II. Glossary of Terms Commonly Used in Geriatric Mental Health and Disaster Preparedness

"Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness significantly contributes to the somewhat limited literature available on this topic."

--The Gerontologist

"This is a must-read book for clinicians, service providers, policy makers, program planners, and teachers in the fields of mental health, aging, and emergency preparedness."

From the Foreword by Robert N. Butler, MD

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the essential information that everyone working, or hoping to work in the field of aging, should know about disasters, emergencies, and their effects on the mental health and well-being of older persons. It provides the reader with evidence-based approaches for identifying and classifying mental health problems, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, and substance use disorders in older adults, which may occur during and post disasters/emergencies.

Specific attention is given to the special needs and approaches to the care of at-risk groups of older persons such as veterans and holocaust survivors; older adults who are isolated, dependent, have mobility problems, communication deficits, are cognitively impaired, or have other co-morbidities; elders who use meals-on-wheels, vital medications, or home care; or older persons who are in senior centers, nursing homes, or assisted living settings.

Key Features

• Increases understanding of the mental health issues in older adults
• Provides tools that can foster resiliency and recovery at the community, group, and individual levels
• Influences the development of positive responses to disasters that can potentially minimize adverse mental and physical outcomes in older persons and maximize individual and group recovery