IPA Bulletin Editor's Note 

By David G. Folks

IPA: A Great and Diverse Organization

Our new President, Masatoshi Takeda, is now leading us through a great organizational transformation. Along with the current IPA Board of Directors plus past IPA presidents and Board members, we can feel confident our collective leadership will guide us into a healthy and dynamic future. IPA has lots of tentacles that form a vast community stretching around the globe. The relationships with our affiliate organizations represent a network of geriatric clinicians, researchers, educators and policy makers. We are fortunate to include them in this transformational planning. The IPA Bulletin will continue to serve as a communication platform as IPA initiatives unfold. Best wishes to President Takeda and the rest of our Board as we move into a new decade of possibilities at IPA.

As mentioned, IPA is an organization of many – disciplines, geographies, areas of geriatric mental health, etc. – and this issue of the Bulletin truly reflects the diversity we have and wish to cultivate. First, I am very pleased to welcome the Nurses’ Shared Interest Group as they will begin to provide a regular feature to the Bulletin. I enjoyed their initial article (page 1) and look forward to future submissions. I also want to draw your attention to the various awards that were presented recently at our Congress on pages 4-5 as well as the member recognitions. Recognition of the many contributions of those in the field and to our organization is something we have the privilege of doing in the Bulletin. In particular, I want to congratulate David Ames and Joel Sadavoy for their support and leadership of IPA and as recipients of the 2009 Distinguished Service Award. Well deserved, David and Joel!

Finally, what better way to discuss diverse approaches to care than the article addressing non-pharmacologic approaches to the dementias? Who could argue with music, massage and aromatherapy? The evidence weighs in favor of these therapeutic modalities being beneficial for a number of geriatric maladies. Indeed other non-pharmacologic approaches are used in my own clinical setting including light therapy, pet therapy, Wii-hab and therapeutic horticulture (greenhouse gardening). Mood improves, agitation diminishes and sleep is enhanced.

As the IPA Bulletin concludes another year, Ajit and I want to thank our various editors, especially feature editors (Bob and Bob, Brian, and James), as well as our authors for their work. We hope we have engaged and enlightened you over the past year.

Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy 2010!

 

Reprinted from IPA Bulletin, Volume 26, Number 4