8 • September 2015 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC.
FALL GUIDE Sonoma County
LDER ISDOM by Eloise Tweeten
Eloise@TweetenEldercare.com
Santa Rosa, CA. ~ I grew up the daughter of a depression- era family doctor and have fond memories of “house calls” when we would pile into the station wag- on and await Dad’s return from a home visit.
The days of
1960s house calls are gone, and much has changed in the medical world.
As
my own daughter embarks on a medi- cal career, I was eager to learn from a seasoned physician about the medical profession today. Tim Gieseke, MD, was raised an “army brat” in a post-de- pression era family that rarely went to the doctor.
Yet he
was drawn to the medical pro- fession because he liked the biological sciences, had good role models in his own family
physician and dentist, liked to problem solve, and was raised to volunteer. He attended med- ical school at UC Irvine, con- tinued his studies in internal medicine at UC Davis, and has been practicing med- icine in Santa Rosa since 1979.
When
he opened his prac- tice, he “did every- thing,” from work- ing in ICU, inserting central lines, mak-
ing house calls, and providing nursing home care. It was fast- paced and he kept very busy. His work shifted in 1986 when a senior director of nursing told him he would be a good medi- cal director, and he joined the team at Spring Lake Village. He then became involved with the California Medical
As-
sociation and took courses to become a certifi ed medical di-
Heirloom Exposition September 8th, 9th, and 10th, 2015
5th Annual National Featured Speakers Include:
Dr. Vandana Shiva, Jeremy Seifert, Ronnie Cummins, Libby O’Connell, Andrew Kimbrell, Sally Fox, and many more.
Admission for Adults: $15.00 – one day $30.00 – all 3 days Kids 17 and under FREE
Tickets available online and at the door!
20,000+ organic food enthusiasts gather for
4000+ Heirloom varieties of produce and livestock
350+
pure-food, garden and farm related vendors.
100+ speakers
1350 Bennett Valley Rd, Santa Rosa, CA 95404 Hours: Speaker Halls open at 11am Daily • Heirloom Expo hours: 11am to 8pm Daily
Sonoma County Fairgrounds
TheHeirloomExpo.com
8 • September 2015 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC.
Contact Paul Wallace Petaluma Seed Bank 707-773-1336
We should not only use the brains we have, but all that we can borrow. ~Woodrow Wilson Medicine Through the Years An interview with Tim Gieseke, M.D.
rector in 1995. In 1992 he also started participating in medi- cal projects in Albania and has completed 16 such projects in Albania and Kosovo. By 2002, he was challenged by fellow professionals at an AMDA (American Medical Directors Association) meeting to give back to the profession, at which point he was called to leave pri- vate practice and devote more time to nursing home care and teaching. He became the presi- dent of the California Associa- tion of Long Term Care Medi- cine for a two year term, and also chaired the education sec- tion for two 2-year terms. He enjoys teaching, and now offers monthly classes as an assistant medical director to staff nurs- es and CNAs at several Santa Rosa skilled nursing facilities along with other teaching op- portunities. Dr. Gieseke’s current profes-
sional interests include pain management, preparing for advanced healthcare planning/ changes that happen with age, care co- ordination, and perfor- mance im- provement in long term care settings. Refl ecting on the medi- cal profes- sion today, he sees care as fragmented, with every- one rushed. A fi ve min-
ute visit with your physician is about as much as you can ex- pect, as having time to sit and listen to patients is a rare com- modity.
example. Dr. Gieseke’s advice to fami-
lies and seniors is to educate yourselves about health care and ag- ing. He rec- ommends two books in par- ticular: “Be- ing Mortal,” by Atul Gawa- nde and “My Mother, Your Mother...” by Dennis Mc- Cullough.
Seniors often underestimate how frail and vulnerable
In his role, Dr. Gie-
seke is able to take more time to sit down and go through pa- tient records, do assessments, develop a care plan, and docu- ment the medical history of a patient in skilled nursing for others to review.
System-wide changes are happening for the better, albeit slowly, according to Gieseke. Based on a Medicare study in 2014, regulations are being re- written to improve standards of care in nursing homes, for
they are, and if you wait for a crisis to occur you will be unprepared for the decisions which must be made. Fully understanding your current health conditions is important, as well as contemplating what your care options are based on fi nancial resources. With the Affordable
Care Act, value-
based payments will become standard, and providers will need to change their approach to improve care.
The “Lone
Ranger” is gone in senior care, replaced by teamwork. As a consumer, Dr. Gieseke believes the Affordable Care Act is posi- ... continued on page 10
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