Something must be developed in consciousness that reminds outside the identifications and mechanical actions and experiences of the moment.

In the last 15 years, Pacific Institute has provided cost-effective direct services to nearly 1,500 elderly, 300 family members, and trained 225 interns and caregivers in our unique holistic approach to health and care. The Pacific Institute’s Academia holistic approach to mental, community, and gerontological wellness is highly influential in the field of mental health, geriatrics, and residential care. It has been recognized by the American Society on Aging for developing innovative programs for senior care, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education for the innovative educational programs, and the California State Assembly for our cutting-edge work on training and aging issues, and the San Francisco Department of Public health for the quality of clinical training provided to professionals responsible for the care of the elderly and the mentally ill in the city of San Francisco.

A lack of access, education, and awareness leads many individuals and their doctors to accept mental discomfort and unique states of consciousness as a lifetime condition that makes one infirm and incapacitated. Others consider depression and mental illness a normal part of aging when it is not. Among the elderly, mental health conditions are frequently untreated or inappropriately treated; more than one in five older persons with mental disorders are given an inappropriate prescription and are at increased risk for inappropriate medication treatment.¹ As a result, many older persons with mental disorders have a lower quality of general health care and associated increased mortality.²

Experts agree that adequate training and developing aware professionals, as much in the professional field as in the community is the most important factor in good community health care. However in spite of the growing demand for a better system of care, the education system and the pool of medical and mental health care providers with appropriate training and the social initiatives to recreate the role of the elders again, are extremely inadequate.³

Especially, when it comes to care for the elderly, a lack of training and institutional support has resulted in the 27% decline in certified geriatricians since 1998.⁴ In 2005, there was one geriatrician for every 5,000 Americans 65 and older.⁵ Nationally, geriatric mental health specialists comprise one of the smallest groups of health care professionals. By 2010, an estimated 5,000 psychiatrists, 19,000 gerontological nursing specialists, and over 60% of people over the age of 65 feel underutilized and disregarded.⁶

The “expertise gap” is among the greatest challenges to mental healthcare for the elderly,⁷ and the effects are already apparent in California where two out of three skilled nursing facilities failed to meet the state's minimum nursing staff requirements⁸ and a majority of surveyed primary care physicians considered themselves only “somewhat” (66%) or “not very” (20%) knowledgeable about geriatric mental health issues.⁹ Even many specialists, internists and emergency room doctors said they felt “unprepared” to deal with depression and other mental health and end-of-life issues of elderly patients.¹⁰ Of the 145 medical schools in the United States, only 9 have departments of geriatrics; most teaching hospitals graduate internists with as little as six hours of geriatric training. Only about 10% of U.S. medical schools require course work or rotations in geriatric medicine. While many more offer geriatric courses as electives, fewer than 3% of medical school graduates choose to take those courses. In nursing there is no geropsychiatric certification and only one-third of masters level programs offered a course in aging.¹¹

Through the Pacific Institute’s Academia and its comprehensive educational programming we train licensed health professionals in the fields of mental health, social work, gerontology, nursing, and residential care administration for the elderly. Our educational programs nurture a philosophy of care that views the emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions of aging as equally important to the biological one. Our approach aims to challenge our current society, which is plagued by stigma around aging and mental illness, and to strengthen the healthcare system, which is severely strained by funding and workforce limitations.

A case for a more holistic training and approach to mental and physical challenges is the one stated by the spokeswoman for the Alliance for Aging Research who warns the most vulnerable and needy populations of elders are increasingly dehumanized and marginalized for lack of adequate care; "...Older Americans are not being treated as a whole person, but organ by organ."

Experts are demanding our attention and immediate action to train a new cohort of geriatric care providers and to increase access to mental healthcare that will raise the quality of life of our elders by breaking isolation and potentially delay the onset of geropsychiatric issues.