One of the nation’s most prominent researchers on aging and health care and his sister will speak from the heart when they deliver the fall Medicine, Health and Society Lecture at
Vanderbilt
University
Medical
Center
on Sept. 15.
Dr. Robert Kane, who holds the Minnesota Chair in Long-Term Care and Aging at the
University
of
Minnesota
, and his sister, Joan West, will describe the exhausting challenges their mother faced navigating the health care system when she experienced a debilitating stroke. The siblings also will offer recommendations for becoming a better consumer of such care and for improving ‘s long-term care for seniors.
Kane, who directs the Center on Aging at the
University
of
Minnesota
, and West are co-authors of It Shouldn’t Be This Way: The Failure of Long-Term Care, published by Vanderbilt University Press. “The system is broken,” Kane said. “We need to stop looking at only the cost of such care and recognize that we already pay a great deal for something no one wants.”
Most Americans eventually must wrestle with this issue, whether they or a loved one has to move to an assisted living facility or nursing home due to illness or disability. “Their message is simple and compelling,” said Matthew Ramsey, director of the Center for Medicine, Health and Society. “If someone with Dr. Kane’s level of expertise could not get the long-term care system to work, what chance does the ordinary consumer have?”
The lecture, which is scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. in Light Hall, Room 208, is co-sponsored by the
Vanderbilt
Center
for Medicine, Health and Society and the Dean’s Lecture Series in the
School
of
Medicine
.
At 3:30 p.m. there will be a special seminar with Kane and West at the
Robert
Penn
Warren
Center
for the Humanities to allow a fuller discussion of the issues they raise in their book and lecture. A reception and book signing will follow at the Vanderbilt University Bookstore from 5 to 6 p.m. The lecture, seminar and reception are all free and open to the public. Box lunches will be available at the lecture. To reserve a lunch, call 322-5007 or send an e-mail to janelle.owens@Vanderbilt.Edu.
Media contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, 615-322-NEWS