Comprehensive health screening of well elderly adults: an analysis of a community program

We examined the yield of a health screening program in a free-standing community senior citizen center and identified factors associated with patient compliance with referral recommendations. Of elderly individuals screened, 94% had some positive finding requiring advice or intervention, and 54% were referred to a physician for further evaluation. The most prevalent findings were skin disorders (52%), genitourinary disorders (44%), and eye-ear-nose-throat disorders (33%). Of individuals referred to a physician, 70% complied with the referral. Of those who complied, 38% reported receiving treatment for the referred condition -15% of the entire group of clients screened. Factors positively associated with compliance with physician referral included the specific type of referred problem, the perceived seriousness of the problem, and absence of financial barriers to medical care. Though controlled trial data are lacking, this and other published studies indicate that many remediable problems can be identified among apparently healthy elderly individuals in community geriatric screening programs

Preventing Falls in Older Californians: State of the Art

In February 2003, the Foundation convened over 150 leaders in academic, legislative, community-based services, consumer advocates, aging network, housing, public health, public safety, and other leaders who worked for two days on a statewide blueprint on fall prevention.  In preparation for the convening, a Preconference White Paper was created and used to build the blueprint.  The California Blueprint describes state-of-the-art approaches to reducing the risks of falls, and the challenges to implementing fall prevention in California.  One of the top recommendations from this blueprint was the creation of a coordination center that could serve as a statewide resource and lead efforts in fall prevention.  This recommendation eventually led to the creation of the Fall Prevention Center of Excellence (FPCE)