Dr. Neela Patel’s dedication to serving others is evident through her work with geriatric patients and her 10-year membership in Impact San Antonio. Through her work, she is helping low-income older adult clients of House of Neighborly Service stay healthy.
At our 2019 Grant Award Night, House of Neighborly Service (HNS), a High Impact Grant recipient, and UT Health, a Support Grant recipient, laid the groundwork for a joint project. UT Health received their grant for CARINO en su Casa, in which UT Health medical staff visit older adult clients in their homes and develop a relationship with them and their families to monitor and improve their health. HNS staff suggested that the program could benefit their clients, and those discussions led to the current joint project.
One of the physicians involved is Dr. Neela Patel, chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Care in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, and holder of the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Chair in Geriatrics and Community Senior Care. We asked Dr. Patel about her work and her dedication to Impact SA.
How did you hear about Impact San Antonio, and what encouraged you to join?
Ann Parker, my dear friend and my then-boss’s wife, introduced me to the organization, and I joined in 2010. I had invited her to a gala that I chaired for the Texas Indo American Physicians Society in 2009, so she thought I was more inclined to be interested in an organization like Impact San Antonio. I am so grateful and thankful for that. I love this organization. I wish I had more time to be engaged and more involved.
How do you benefit from being a member of Impact SA? What impresses you about the organization?
I am an Impact Champion member and attend Grant Award Night, which is such a wonderful experience that I cannot describe it in words. It is the joy of giving and looking beyond yourself. I love the altruism, the networking with other women who have the passion similar to mine, learning about the San Antonio community and the various ways we can contribute to empower our community.
Tell us about your work at UT Health. What is your medical specialty, and why did you choose it?
I am a family physician with a specialty in geriatrics and palliative medicine. I grew up taking care of my grandmother and also my mother, who had early-onset dementia. I realized how much of an influence they had on me.
I like making the golden years of life really matter. As we grow older, we have a lot of medical conditions that are not easily managed with only medications. (Older adults) need to be looked at as a whole person. Geriatrics and palliative care are all about person- and family-centered care beyond prescribing medications. It is actually developing a relationship with the patient and their family.
Tell us about the project you are working on with House of Neighborly Service. What services are you providing, and to whom?
The project is called CARINO en su Casa. CARINO stands for Compassion, Advocacy and Respect Intended to Nurture Older Adults. It involves working with patients and their families to coordinate care. We had been seeing House of Neighborly Service clients in their homes, but because of the COVID pandemic we are now seeing patients at HNS using full PPE and coordinating with (HNS community health worker) Robert Gomez. We are seeing patients one half-day a week.
The CARINO (the Spanish word for fondness, affection, tenderness and love) approach represents a highly complex set of related activities that can occur alone or be integrated to meet the patients’ needs. This approach avoids “silos” of care. Relationship building is intentional and continuous.
It recognizes the unique needs of older patients that are often overlooked, particularly those of underserved Hispanics who lack resources such as transportation or insurance, and for whom barriers such as language and communication, and understanding how to navigate a complex health system, are very significant. Such health disparities and issues with trust building and relationship building are prominent in underserved Hispanic groups in South Texas
House of Neighborly Service: (210) 434-2301, www.hnstoday.org
UT Health San Antonio: (210) 567-7000, www.uthscsa.edu
