COVID-19 and Its Mental Health Impact on Older Persons

Continuing Education Units Webinar

The COVID-19 pandemic is arguably the greatest public health disaster of the past hundred years. In addition to the tremendous loss of life and morbidity caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself, the mental health effects of the pandemic are only beginning to be understood. This program focuses on key aspects of the pandemic on older adults' mental health, including social isolation, loneliness, depression, and suicidal behaviors. It also introduces the audience to the concept of prolonged grief and how societal aspects of the response to the pandemic have made prolonged grief likelier for older adults after the loss of a loved one. Healing milestones and factors that derail healing will be presented, along with strategies for preventing the detrimental effects of social isolation and loneliness.

Participants in this web seminar will be able to:

• Explore the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on seniors, emphasizing depression, suicide and prolonged grief, as well as the long-term care setting.
• Understand and explore the differences between social isolation and loneliness and their role in health and well-being.
• Discuss strategies for preventing the detrimental effects of loneliness and social isolation.
• Use a case example to explore risk factors and resiliency factors in prolonged grief disorder and potential association with COVID-19, while studying notable healing milestones and factors that derail that healing.

Replay Webinar

About the Presenter:

Andrew S Rosenzweig, MD, MPH, is a board certified and fellowship trained geriatric psychiatrist who specializes in the treatment of the elderly in long-term care facilities. Dr. Rosenzweig attended the University of Michigan Medical School, receiving his MD degree in 1991 along with his Master of Public Health in Epidemiology. He completed his residency in general psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh in 1995, where he remained for his fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry in 1996. He has published numerous articles and chapters on bereavement-related depression in the elderly.

Since 2011 Dr. Rosenzweig has been Chief Medical Officer of Forefront TeleCare, the national leader in telehealth linking behavioral specialists to rural, under-served skilled nursing facilities and inpatient geriatric psychiatry units coast-to-coast. In this role, he heads the Peer Review and Credentialing Committees and serves as a key member of the management team. Through Forefront’s videoconferencing technology, he also treats residents at a skilled nursing facility in Minnesota and psychiatric inpatients at a geropsych unit in rural Kansas.

^* This webinar is designed for professionals and family caregivers. Eligible professionals can claim ONE FREE CE credit within 60 days of the live webinar by attending the live event or watching the recorded program. Your credit will be emailed within 30 days of survey submission.