SENIOR LIFESTYLES SERVING NEEDS OF BOOTHEEL ELDERLY

SIKESTON -- Like the final piece of the puzzle, Dr. Abilash Desai coming aboard as medical director of the Senior Lifestyles behavioral health unit at Missouri Delta Medical Center completed a team.

Assembled for and devoted to caring for individuals ages 55 and above with emotional or psychological problems, the Senior Lifestyles Unit opened in September 1997 and operated for the first year with a full-time psychiatrist.

After operating with a part-time psychiatrist for a second year, Desai, a specialist in geriatric psychiatry, came aboard in October 1999 to fill the gap.

A psychiatrist leading psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers and recreational therapists "makes us truly a multidisciplinary team," said Desai, "the best way to provide care for our elderly." MDMC staffers perform a nutritional assessment as well as providing physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy, which trains complex functions and fine motor skills, if needed.

At the MDMC Senior Lifestyles Unit, Desai and the staff "work very closely with the patient's primary care physician," said Desai.

If there is no primary care physician available, an MDMC internist, who specializes in elderly medical care, will see them.

Desai said the close working relationship is a rare asset. "You won't find that with many other places." A staff member of the St. Louis University School of Medicine, Desai saw Sikeston as a great place to practice his specialty full time while maintaining his teaching position, which he does by returning at least twice each year to train residents in geriatric psychiatry.

"There is such a great need in this area," said Desai.

"There is no other geriatric psychiatrist that I know of in the Southeast Missouri area." Tina Hartlein, program director, said the nearest is in Blytheville, Ark., although there is a psychiatrist from St. Louis who visits nursing homes in area counties.

Additionally, Desai said he is hoping to work on research with Dr. Tom Meuser of the educational department at the Washington University Alzheimers Disease Research Center.